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Eddie Izzard on East Africa famine: "What the hell happened?"
Published Thursday, Oct 20 2011, 11:50 BST | By Kate Goodacre | Add comment
Eddie Izzard has expressed his disbelief that famine is still a serious issue in Africa 26 years after Live Aid.
The stand-up comedian and actor travelled to the border of Kenya and Somalia to film a Tonight special titled Eddie Izzard - Didn't We Fix Famine? for ITV1.
Izzard is seen saying: "Do you remember when you were a kid and they said, 'Eat all your food or we'll send it to the starving kids in Africa'? Well, I never ate it and they never sent it.
"Then it was 1984, Bob Geldof and Live Aid... Now it's October 2011 - drought, famine, crisis. What the hell happened? I thought we had this sorted!"
Izzard is also seen showing viewers the difficulties of digging a grave in the sandy ground.
> Scarlett Johansson: 'East African famine is an emergency'
> Bob Geldof "appalled" by France, Germany response to Africa aid
Band Aid co-founder Midge Ure suggests during the broadcast that people may have 'charity fatigue', saying: "We cannot make people react to it. We cannot pull money out of people's pockets. It is pretty sad that you have to see images of dying babies on TV before you do something."
Izzard - who ran a five-week series of marathons for Sport Relief in 2009 - will also be seen meeting seriously ill famine victims during the half-hour programme.
Tonight: Eddie Izzard - Didn't We Fix Famine? airs this evening (October 20) at 7.30pm on ITV1.
The stand-up comedian and actor travelled to the border of Kenya and Somalia to film a Tonight special titled Eddie Izzard - Didn't We Fix Famine? for ITV1.
Izzard is seen saying: "Do you remember when you were a kid and they said, 'Eat all your food or we'll send it to the starving kids in Africa'? Well, I never ate it and they never sent it.
"Then it was 1984, Bob Geldof and Live Aid... Now it's October 2011 - drought, famine, crisis. What the hell happened? I thought we had this sorted!"
Izzard is also seen showing viewers the difficulties of digging a grave in the sandy ground.
> Scarlett Johansson: 'East African famine is an emergency'
> Bob Geldof "appalled" by France, Germany response to Africa aid
Band Aid co-founder Midge Ure suggests during the broadcast that people may have 'charity fatigue', saying: "We cannot make people react to it. We cannot pull money out of people's pockets. It is pretty sad that you have to see images of dying babies on TV before you do something."
Izzard - who ran a five-week series of marathons for Sport Relief in 2009 - will also be seen meeting seriously ill famine victims during the half-hour programme.
Tonight: Eddie Izzard - Didn't We Fix Famine? airs this evening (October 20) at 7.30pm on ITV1.
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