Beyonce to sing at U.N. for humanitarian aid cause
(CBS News) UNITED NATIONS - Imagine: The Iranian U.N. Ambassador grooving to "All the Single Ladies" with Beyonce, at the same General Assembly podium where Col. Muammar Qaddafi once rambled on for hours and Nikita Khrushchev once pounded his shoe.
Well, not exactly. Beyonce WILL be there tonight. It is not clear which ambassadors will attend (the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, is on her way to the Olympics' closing ceremony), but what we do know is that Beyonce will sing "I Was Here" to honor World Humanitarian Day on August 19.
A music video of Friday's event, produced by Ridley Scott & Associates, directors Kenzo Digital and Sophie Miller and the award-winning advertising agency Droga5, will be filmed of tonight's performance.
The objective: To get 1 billion people to view the video - and learn about the campaign.
Adding to the Beyonce glow will be other celebrities: American film producer Harvey Weinstein, Sean "Puffy" Combs (otherwise known as P. Ditty), designer Kenneth Cole, and some relatives of famous politicians, including Lauren Bush (the granddaughter of Bush 41 and niece of Bush 43).
World Humanitarian Day was created to mark the anniversary of the August 19, 2003 bombing of the U.N. offices in Baghdad, which killed 22 people.
The event is being organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
"I hope everyone will pledge to complete at least one humanitarian action - however great or small - through whd-iwashere.org, said Amos. "Together we can create an unprecedented awareness of the plight of people affected by crises around the world."
World Humanitarian Day spokesperson Kirsten Mildren told CBS News it is an occasion to honor "all humanitarian aid workers who have died, but it is also about people helping their communities after a disaster. Syria is obviously a priority right now, but this is a day to highlight small acts around the world, good deeds."
But, we wonder, will this normally staid group of diplomats shake a bit, dancing to the sounds of Beyonce, who looked quite conservative herself when the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter-actress met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at rehearsal?
With deadlock in the Security Council on Syria, some are wondering if this could bring diplomats together.
Mildren said, "I can't imagine that anyone won't be completely moved by this event. The General Assembly has never seen anything like this before. You will definitely see people up on their feet."
