All that tequila money is going to a good cause. This morning George and Amal Clooney announced a $1 million donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center to combat hate groups. The Clooneys recently made about $250 million from the sale of George and partner Rande Gerber’s tequila company. They formed the George and Amal Clooney Foundation for Social Justice.

In a statement George said: “Amal and I wanted to add our voice (and financial assistance) to the ongoing fight for equality. There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”

“Like George and Amal Clooney, we were shocked by the size, ugliness, and ferocity of the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville,” said SPLC President Richard Cohen. “It was a reflection of just how much Trump’s incendiary campaign and presidency has energized the radical right. We are deeply grateful to the Clooney Foundation for standing with us at this critical moment in our country’s fight against hate.”

Clooney has also been passionate about trying to help the people of Sudan. With late producer Jerry Weintraub and pals Don Cheadle and Matt Damon he also started the Not On My Watch Foundation. I’ve written before about how Clooney and friends have invested in satellites that monitor violence and human rights violations in Sudan.

The announcement this morning comes at a perfect juxtaposition to reports about Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his horrid wife Louise Linton. The latter is cited everywhere today for berating a writer to her Instagram page about the Mnuchins’ lavish lifestyle and sense of entitlement.

This morning as Jerry Lewis‘s death is catching up to the news there are many stories about his philanthropy and devotion to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. With his Labor Day telethons and “Jerry’s Kids” programs, Lewis spent 50 years raising billions for the organization. He put them on the map internationally.

And then in 2010 they kicked him to the curb. Jerry was ousted, unceremoniously. His history with the group was erased from their materials and website. The Labor Day telethon became a pre-taped two hour special. MDA receipts went into a severe decline. The group moved from Phoenix to Chicago to accommodate a new CEO. Volunteers around the country complained of closed chapters. People who’d devoted decades to Lewis and MDA said they were abandoned.

Lewis was devastated but never commented publicly on what happened. MDA, seeing the self destruction they’d caused, tried to smooth things over a couple of years later, but it was too late. The damage was done. Then they were usurped by the ALS Association, which had their summer of Ice Bucket Challenge. MDA suffered, which was sad only for the kids involved, but not for the executives who’d killed their golden goose.

According to its most recent filing form 990, MDA has seen “gifts, grants and membership fees” from the public drop by $36 million since 2011. Still, their CEO makes around $600,000 a year, and their salaries for execs exceeds $2 million a year. Last year, among their expenses: $3 million for printing. And that’s in the age of digital and online.

Yesterday it took MDA three hours from the time Lewis’s death was announced to sent out a Tweet of condolence. (First they re-tweeted Lewis’s successor host for those terrible specials, Tom Bergeron.) It took them that long to put something on their website, where for years Lewis has been persona non grata. Watch them do what they can to cash in on his legacy. It’s pathetic.

FROM MARCH 2012:

Jerry Lewis turned 86 yesterday and got quite a nice birthday party from the Friars Club. Richard Belzer interviewed him last night at the 92nd St. Y, Lewis did a lengthy and hilarious Q&A with the audience, and then Paul Shaffer played “Happy Birthday” to him on the piano with an audience singalong. Veteran comic and actor Jerry Stiller came and sat third row center and even asked a question: “Did you and Dean rehearse your act?”– and he seriously wanted an answer. Jerry joked a lot of his answers, and got lots of applause  from an audience that included Robert Klein, David Steinberg, and writer-actor Robert Smigel (“Triumph the Comic Insult Dog”). The audience was full of showbiz people including producer Bonnie Timmerman, Rita Cosby, and director-producer Antonio Campos.

Lewis was brilliant, revelatory, and emotional–especially with a former MDA kid, now adult, who lives with Cerebral Palsy. When one audience member asked about Jerry getting fired from the MDA telethon, the comic was philosophical. (I’ll have more on that on Monday.) On the subject of former partner Dean Martin, Lewis said: “Dean Martin was without question the least appreciated performer in show business…For ten years my partner read reviews where his name wasn’t mentioned. And he dealt with it with such dignity and class…I called him Paul, his real name…I said, we have a magical combination. He said, I’m ok, Jerry. He was a great gentle man about it.”

PS Belzer put together a stunning film of birthday greeting clips from everyone connected to “Law and Order” as well as Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Joe Piscopo, who was in the audience and also does a very cool Lewis imitation.

from October 2015:

Jerry Lewis, Legend with a capital L, was interviewed for one hour by Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese at the wonderful Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. You know that Lewis starred in Scorsese’s “King of Comedy” in 1982, a modern classic. In the audience last night: Steve Buscemi, Emmy winning star of Scorsese’s HBO hit series “Boardwalk Empire.”

Scorsese and Lewis had a great discussion about film, and Lewis as a trailblazer director. I will post highlights a little later.

After the the one hour talk, I was backstage with Scorsese and Lewis, who will turn 90 in March 2016. Jerry is sharper than a tack, hilariously funny, and dead serious when he comes to filmmaking. We covered a lot of subjects in a short time, but two things stuck out.

One: does he listen to Dean Martin’s music at all? Does he have a favorite song? Martin and Lewis were one of the most famous comedy teams in history until they broke up in 1956. They didn’t speak for years but finally made up in 1989, a few years before Martin’s death in 1995.

Jerry jumped right in at the question: “All the time. Oh yeah.” A favorite song? “All of it. I hear it all. I have it on two Bose units in my home, in my car, in my office.” Does it make him feel good? “Yes, but it’s a tough feeling because I wish he was here.” I tell him what a fan of I was of Dean Martin. Jerry was emphatic: “You should be. Everyone was a fan of my partner’s.”

The other burning question for tonight: will he ever release “The Day the Clown Cried”? The answer, emphatically, is NO. “Why should I?” he asked rhetorically. The unreleased film is about a clown who is put to death by the Nazis with Jewish children.

“It’s bad work. The director did bad work,” Lewis said. meaning Lewis himself. When I told him that someone tried to release clips from it last year, he scoffed. “It’s never coming out,” he said. End of story. “I have the last 400 feet [of film] in a vault.”

He did tell me that he subbed for Johnny Carson for six weeks as host of the Tonight show back in 1962. “Johnny was out, getting a sex change,” Jerry said.

Part two

More from my hilarious interview with Jerry Lewis last week at the Museum of the Moving Image. Jerry had been interviewed earlier by his “The King of Comedy” director and old friend Martin Scorsese. Remember Jerry played Jerry Langford, a Johnny Carson-like talk show host in “The King of Comedy” who is kidnapped by Robert DeNiro and Sandra Bernhard.

Lewis, by the way, regularly guest hosted for Carson back in the day. He told me once did a six week stint for Johnny. When was that, I wondered?

“When Johnny went to have a sex change,” Lewis snapped back with glee. He is 89 and faster than you or I will ever be. Listening to him with Scorsese reminded me of the last time I saw Milton Berle perform– at Denise Rich’s famous original Angel Ball at the Sheraton circa 1999-2000. Berle was over 90, I think. I don’t know if anyone recorded it, but his 15 minutes at the podium were historic.

Lewis’s talk with Scorsese– which I hope will be available soon– was both insightful about filmmaking and wildly funny.

Backstage last week at MMI, I asked Jerry if he ever watches the new crop of late night talk show hosts.

Do you watch Jimmy Fallon?
He’s going to be very very strong.
Kimmel?
I don’t watch Kimmel.
Letterman?
Letterman, I watched as much as I could
Do you miss Letterman?
No. No. [But] I liked him.
Colbert?
He should work at Tiffany’s.
Why, Jerry?
Because he’s dull.
Really? You don’t think Colbert is funny at all?
I think he’s very good. He’s very good. But you can’t take someone and place them in a spot that was excellence. He’s got a tough row to hoe, boy.
Is it fun being 90?
When I get there I’ll tell you.
When do you turn 90?
In March
Is it fun being 89?
Yeah! Everyday some thing new is broke!

Jerry Lewis is gone but will never be forgotten. He made sure of that by having many lives, all successful. The comic genius, great indie filmmaker was also a tremendous philanthropist. He was never easy but he lived his life honestly. He said what was on his mind always. And never failed to amuse. He had his foes but his fans and friends idolized him — like Martin Scorsese and Richard Belzer. Jerry was a great interview, too. He was always more than generous to me, and our encounters were memorable. Despite their famous falling out, Jerry loved and miss his old partner Dean Martin. Keep refreshing because I’m going to add the interview we did a couple of years ago. This is a big big loss.