Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen will headline a telethon for victims of Superstorm Sandy. The one-hour show will be broadcast from NBC television studios in New York.
Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together will be shown across NBC and its affiliate stations, collecting money for the American Red Cross. It will be modeled on a telethon that followed 2005's Hurricane Katrina disaster, and which raised $50m (£31m) in donations. That telethon is most notorious for an unscripted remark by Kanye West, who told viewers: "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
This time, host Matt Lauer's cast of performers is a less impulsive group: Springsteen and Bon Jovi, natives of the storm-ravaged state of New Jersey; Billy Joel, who lives in Long Island; singer Christina Aguilera; and Sting. More artists will be announced over the course of today.
More than 70 people have died in the wake of Superstorm Sandy and tens of thousands remain without power, or trapped by floodwater. Promoters have been forced to cancel or postpone hundreds of concerts across the American north-east, losing millions of dollars in marketing costs and prompting a run on insurance providers.
