Year's Top 10 Moments of Celeb Activism

It’s been a big year for celebrity activism—so big that it deserves its own year-end top 10 list, Tina Daunt writes in the Los Angeles Times. Some famous faces that made a difference in 2008:

• Oprah Winfrey fought hard for Barack Obama, including hosting a traffic-stopping garden party.
• Norman Lear targeted young people in an online, nonpartisan get-out-the-vote effort.
• Paris Hilton became a YouTube phenomenon—for politics.

• George Clooney hosted an “exclusive and discreet” dinner for Obama in Switzerland. And alongside Don Cheadle, he made sure Darfur’s genocide stayed in the spotlight.
• Former Motown boss Clarence Avant advised Hillary Clinton while his daughter raised cash for Barack.
• Celebs including Matt Damon and Sarah Silverman worked on bubbies for Obama.
• Ron Burkle hosted countless swanky parties backing Democrats.
• Will.i.am took Obama viral with his “Yes We Can” video.
• But Tinseltown arrived too late to defeat California’s Proposition 8.

(More Best of 2008 stories.)