The irony is, that charities often throw gala's, and 'honor' or give an award to some celebrity or other. Why, because when that celeb shows up to accept the award, they can get others to buy seats, or plates as it's often refered to, to be there. (The show Darm and Greg even made a joke out of this one episode)

Alot of the gala's that celebrities show up to, they are being paid to be there. (not saying this is the case with Cruise) Or, their rooms and such are being paid for by the chairty. It's just sort of the cost of doing business. The bigger name you can get to show up to your event (and there are people that book celebs for these things out there professionally) the more money you can potentially raise.

Not that Cruise doing charity work is a bad thing, but any celeb can be invited to a gala for an award. frankly, there are alot of celebrities out there doing charity work that I admire more. Bono is an example, Angelia Jolie is another, Paul Newman and Newmans Own. Kevin Sorbo shows up at Dragoncon every year and brings alot of his own stuff to sell at the charity auction. He even does a good deal of the auctioning himself. Hootie and the Blowfish have the Monday After the Masters Golf Tournament every year. Tippi Hendron founded an animal rescue and retirement organization. The list could go on and on.

Edited 1 time by mousekabob Mar 17 07 2:46 PM.