Matt Damon, Bono and Lebron James on Entourage

The greatest performance in Matt Damon’s career occurred on the season finale of HBO’s ‘Entourage.’ In the episode, Damon tried to convince Vince (played by Adrian Grenier) to use his celebrity status and travel on a mission to Ohio to help fight hunger among children for Damon’s ONEXONE organization…Vince couldn’t go but Damon wasn’t about to let him off easy… Showing true dedication to the charitable cause, Damon asked Vince to donate money in a sequence of phone calls and conversations that escalate at times to a heated exchange of words…Damon even hit Vince up via a conference call with Bono, who also hounds Vince into donating because it’s “for the kids.” Simply priceless.

Of course, this isn’t the first we’ve seen of Entourage supporting celebrities and their causes…most recently, Tom Brady appeared in an episode-and while he didn’t plug ‘his charity’ he was playing in a charity golf event. And I expect much more celebrity cameos for charity in the following months. Why? Because it’s become very trendy to be a ‘giver.’ Now, this doesn’t mean that the giving is insincere, it just means we’re going to have to examine what’s inside the heroes we worship in order to figure that out. Sure, it may be difficult to decipher who’s sincere and who’s in it for the glory, but if you do your research you’ll find that most celebrities and athletes who are in the spotlight for their generosity have been doing charitable work for years. Let’s take for example…um, I dunno, Lebron James? Lebron also dropped a cameo in the Entourage finale…which I find highly suspect. Coming from the man who said the only thing he needs to donate to his hometown is an ‘appearance’, I ain’t buying it for a second. In my opinion, Lebron doesn’t care about any cause except that which furthers his image. Athletes making cameos for charity is trendy, hence his appearance. But hey, if it brings attention to Damon’s ONEXONE organization then I guess it’s worth it.

Props to Entourage for stepping it up for the causes…they’ve even set up an ‘Entourage’ page with behind the scenes videos of the actors lending their voice to the cause. But massive props to Matt Damon for effectively getting his message across with a flawlessly funny performance.

This clip rolled at the end of the Entourage final, after Damon has hounded Vince for a check. Be warned, lots of CUSSING it in….

Here’s another clip of Matt Damon directing Adrian (Vince) Grenier as he shoots a PSA for ONEXONE while Jeremy Piven tries to keep the peace…as seen on HBO On Demand… again, lots of profanity…

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com