U2 Performs At Haiti Benefit

Bette Midler, Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Piers Morgan, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Idris Elba and Kathryn Bigelow were among the guests Saturday at Sean Penn’s third annual Help Haiti Home benefit, which raised nearly $6 million for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization. The dinner party at the Montage Hotel included a surprise performance by U2– the band’s first in four years.

The J/P Haitian Relief Organization has been working since the 2010 earthquake to provide emergency care and sustainable shelter and education to the people of Haiti. But Penn says he hopes his organization is obsolete within 10 years.

He said progress in the Caribbean nation has been miraculous despite corruption and “inaccurate, bad Journalism.”

“I’m not satisfied. I want more,” he said. “But this couldn’t have happened in the United States: This amount of clean up, this amount of resilience.”

He expects all of the people displaced by the earthquake to find permanent housing within the next two years. Nearly two million have already moved out of the emergency camps and into homes.

Besides lending his time and his fame to the cause, Penn also gave his vintage El Camino to benefit his organization. It sold for $100,000 at auction Saturday.

The earth is such a tiny speck in the universe that the only thing that makes sense is to take care of those on the planet with us, he said. He promised to reward those who participated in the auction.

Midler, Paltrow and Kevin Bacon cast bids. Paltrow’s husband, Coldplay front man Chris Martin, won an exclusive art piece from Banksy for $650,000. Anderson Cooper, the evening’s host, gave the biggest donation: His auction bid of $1.4 million won a sculpture to be made from Penn’s 65 discarded firearms.

U2’s three-song performance – stunning in a hotel ballroom – followed a tender, acoustic performance earlier in the evening with Bono, guitarist The Edge and Haitian singer Anaelle Jean-Pierre.

Emma Thompson noted the contrast between the Help Haiti event and other pre-awards-show parties.

“I’m here for awards season,” she said, “and this is the first night I’ve been having a good time.”