Lady Gaga Tops Good Celebrities List.

Lady Gaga Tops DoSomething.org’s ‘Top 20 Celebs Gone Good’ List; Sophia Bush Named ‘Fan Favorite’, Bieber Shoots up the Rankings this Year; New Trend is Couples

DoSomething.org, one of the largest U.S. organizations that helps teens take action on causes they care about, it released its fourth annual ‘Top 20 Celebs Gone Good’ list.

Lady Gaga continues her reign as the star who uses her celebrity to do the most good. Known for her support of gay rights, AIDS, and poverty, she focused primarily this year on bullying, even taking her thoughts to the White House in December. She also announced the creation of her own charity, the Born this Way Foundation, which aims to empower youth and lead them to a brave new society where each individual is accepted and loved as the person they were born to be.

Making a meteoric rise to number two this year is Justin Bieber , up from number 10 last year. His fast rise is due to his prolific work with Pencils of Promise, an organization that builds schools in Laos and Guatemala. Justin is also a consistent supporter of Make-A-Wish, raised funds for charity with his fragrance and holiday album, and recently distributed $100,000 to Whitney Elementary School in Las Vegas.

“There are some interesting trends from this year’s list,” says Aria Finger, COO of DoSomething.org. “It’s dominated by young celebrities and we also see so many couples. Last year the list had its first power couple, Ashton and Demi who have now broken up, and this year there are a total of four couples. Doing good is definitely fun in groups.”

For the first time ever, DoSomething.org’s panel of social media and mobile experts incorporated Facebook voting to help them determine the impact of celebrities reaching an audience with their cause. The criteria stipulated giving money wasn’t enough to count as creating impact; instead, a celebrity needed to take an action others could emulate, like writing articles, building houses, or founding an organization. Facebook fans voted Sophia Bush as the first ‘Fan Favorite.’

The 2011 ‘Top 20 Celebs Gone Good’ list:

1. Lady Gaga
2. Justin Bieber
3. George Clooney
4. Will & Jada Pinkett Smith
5. Leonardo DiCaprio
6. Matt Damon
7. Ellen DeGeneres
8. Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
9. Dwight Howard
10. Demi Lovato
11. Shakira
12. Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore
13. will.i.am
14. Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert
15. Nick Cannon
16. Lea Michele
17. Daniel Radcliffe
18. Miley Cyrus
19. Coldplay
20. Taylor Swift

“There are a handful of other celebrities who just missed the cut-off this year,” notes Finger. “We look forward to seeing what they will do in 2012.” Current speculations and predictions from DoSomething.org include:

* Will Jay-Z and Beyonce, Rihanna, and Justin Timberlake each use their massive popularity and talent for social change next year?
* How will Zoey Dechanel use her new star power for good?
* We suspect Bieber’s good heart will rub-off on Selena Gomez and catapult her to the list next year.
* With Tim Tebow being the most talked about athlete of 2011, we’re excited to see how he uses his celebrity for good in the coming year.

To determine the rankings, DoSomething.org used its research team and an expert panel, who focused on three elements: popularity, influence, and impact. The first two were calculated using each celebrity’s number of Twitter followers and Facebook likes, as well as their IMDB Pro Scores, Billboard Social 50 ranking, and number of ChaCha inquiries.

For full list and celebrities’ individual charitable impact, visit: Celebrities doing good.

Chris Colfer discovered Glee axe on twitter


Chris Colfer found out he was leaving ‘Glee’ through twitter.

The actor – who plays Kurt Hummel in the TV musical comedy – claims he only learned he and co-stars Lea Michele and Cory Monteith wouldn’t be returning after the third series on the social networking site.

He said of the axing: “I found out yesterday on Twitter. Yeah, I found out that they made that announcement. I didn’t necessarily know that it was going to be our last season next year, I knew something like that was coming up eventually. I mean, we can’t be there forever. I don’t necessarily want to leave so soon, but I mean, it’s fine.”

Although he will be sad to go, Chris will look back on the show with great pride.

He said: “It’s what it is. And all things come to an end. As a performer, I feel so fulfilled. I have two Emmy nominations and just from hearing from people out in the world about how much the character has helped people. If it’s time for a conclusion, I’m fulfilled with it, and I’m fine with it.”

Speaking about the decision creator Ryan Murphy – who insisted more characters will leave than stay – said: “We made that decision and I involved Chris and Lea and they thought that was a good idea. They both trust the writing and trust me and felt that it would be great to have an open and closed experience for them to go out while they were on top.”

Cory wasn’t consulted about the decision, but Ryan explained: “He knows he was a sophomore when the show started.”

Lea Michele to leave Glee

Lea Michele will leave ‘Glee’ at the end of the next season.

The actress will see her character Rachel Berry graduate from McKinley High at the end of the third series, along with Chris Colfer, Cory Monteith and other, as yet, unnamed cast members.

Creator Ryan Murphy – who insists more characters will leave than stay – told The Hollywood Reporter: “We made that decision and I involved Chris and Lea and they thought that was a good idea. They both trust the writing and trust me and felt that it would be great to have an open and closed experience for them to go out while they were on top.”

Cory wasn’t consulted about the decision, but Ryan explained: “He knows he was a sophomore when the show started.”

The scriptwriter insists several characters had to leave because they are supposed to be school students, and therefore they would graduate and go on to college or continue their lives.

Ryan explained: “You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticise you for not being realistic or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year.”

While season three will be Lea’s final, Ryan promised she will still take centre stage.

He said: “I’m much more interested in Lea’s character – not so much on her relationship with Finn, but more on what her dreams are beyond high school and how she plans on getting them. That’s what my senior year was about.”

Get Gleeful again. Top show returns. {Glee Preview}

GLEE
Mon 10 Jan, 9pm, E4

As another school year begins, the Glee kids discover that their elusive popularity still remains outside their grasp. Several things have occurred over the summer break: Finn and Rachel have been and still are dating, despite the fact he considers her “a controllist” with a huge ego; Tina has dumped Artie, and is dating fellow Asian Mike Chang; Puck got a vasectomy; Santana got a boob job; Heather spent her summer lost in the sewers; Slushees are still readily available; and the prevailing opinion among the student body is that Will’s song selections for New Directions sound like they come from “a drag queen’s iPod.”


The arrival of the boys’ new football coach, Shannon Bieste presents a problem. As funds from both Glee Club and the Cheerio’s are diverted to the revitalised team, Will and Sue form the unlikeliest of alliances as they attempt to bring down ‘The Beast’; no mean feat when she stands at 6’1, is an ex maximum security prison officer and can dead lift a Cadillac.

And the drama doesn’t end there; when Emma informs Will that she has begun dating her debonair dentist, he realises what he has thrown away and the arrival of Sunshine Corazon to the Glee Club means Rachel REALLY has to sing for her survival.

And so, as the Darwinian fight for survival begins; old rivalries are cast aside, new alliances are formed and hearts are broken all over again.