Katrina Telethon (w/Kanye, Dixie Chicks & Neil Young) Won't Be Censored

Katrina Benefit Telethon Won't Be Censored
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Sep 09 9:48 AM US/Eastern
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer
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NEW YORK
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The producer of Friday's one-hour telethon to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims said no special precautions will be taken to edit out political statements _ even though rapper Kanye West is on the bill.

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West, on last week's hurricane relief concert shown on NBC, departed from a prepared script to say that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." He's one of a dozen musicians scheduled to perform Friday.

Only a standard five- or seven-second delay will be employed to guard against any obscenities, Gallen said. He said he's spoken to all of the musicians and actors who will be appearing on the show about not detracting from the mission.

"I think people understand that politicizing this will certainly not be a smart thing to do as far as inspiring people to call in and rally around this cause," he said.

Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Alicia Keys, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart and Neil Young are among the other scheduled performers. Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, Ellen DeGeneres, Jack Nicholson, Chris Rock, Ray Romano and Sela Ward are also scheduled to appear.

The six main broadcast networks _ ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB _ will all air the event live at 8 p.m. Eastern. Several cable stations including Bravo, Oxygen, TBS and USA have also cleared time for the commercial-free event.

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