John
04-03-2010, 03:55 PM
Bob Geldof has reportedly sent a hand written response to a film director who he believes has unjustifiably attacked his charitable music campaigns.
In the 6,000-word letter, Geldof told Starsuckers helmer Chris Atkins that he has used his fame to persuade world leaders to take global poverty seriously, contrary to anti-poverty demonstrators who he described as being "a bit lame" and almost entirely ineffectual.
The film, which will be broadcast on More 4 on Tuesday, is a polemic against media and celebrity and alleges that money raised from the 1985 Live Aid concerts was misspent and led to deaths. According to The Guardian, it also criticises the Live 8 concerts as overshadowing efforts by campaigners from the Make Poverty History coalition.
Geldof denies the allegations made in the film and his lawyers have written to the film-makers and are also in contact with Channel 4 and the regulator Ofcom.
In his defence, Geldof said that Band Aid saved 500,000 lives and "helped halt a monstrous programme of murder" in Ethiopia. He added that mobilising world opinion through concerts was entirely justified because "the lingua franca of the planet is not English – it's pop music".
Speaking of the Live 8 campaign, he said it helped change the opinions of world leaders and constituted a landmark mass movement. "It finally brought the Live8ers and [Make Poverty History activists] into one stadium. (And James Brown was amazing!!)," he wrote.
Berating anti-poverty demonstrators as "lame", Geldof continued: "The G8 has become a pointless ritual where the marchers and the w**kers dressed as clowns (wow! Radical) get to throw stones at cops miles from the decision makers, who can't even hear them, and the cops get to crack some heads. I can do rock n roll, they can do marching."
In the 6,000-word letter, Geldof told Starsuckers helmer Chris Atkins that he has used his fame to persuade world leaders to take global poverty seriously, contrary to anti-poverty demonstrators who he described as being "a bit lame" and almost entirely ineffectual.
The film, which will be broadcast on More 4 on Tuesday, is a polemic against media and celebrity and alleges that money raised from the 1985 Live Aid concerts was misspent and led to deaths. According to The Guardian, it also criticises the Live 8 concerts as overshadowing efforts by campaigners from the Make Poverty History coalition.
Geldof denies the allegations made in the film and his lawyers have written to the film-makers and are also in contact with Channel 4 and the regulator Ofcom.
In his defence, Geldof said that Band Aid saved 500,000 lives and "helped halt a monstrous programme of murder" in Ethiopia. He added that mobilising world opinion through concerts was entirely justified because "the lingua franca of the planet is not English – it's pop music".
Speaking of the Live 8 campaign, he said it helped change the opinions of world leaders and constituted a landmark mass movement. "It finally brought the Live8ers and [Make Poverty History activists] into one stadium. (And James Brown was amazing!!)," he wrote.
Berating anti-poverty demonstrators as "lame", Geldof continued: "The G8 has become a pointless ritual where the marchers and the w**kers dressed as clowns (wow! Radical) get to throw stones at cops miles from the decision makers, who can't even hear them, and the cops get to crack some heads. I can do rock n roll, they can do marching."