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Paul Hewson, born on 10 May 1960 in Ireland, is more commonly known by his stage name of Bono, under which he has performed with the rock group U2 since 1976. His success as a musician and songwriter has enabled him to become a humanitarian of international note widely known for his efforts with regard to third-world debt relief and the plight of Africa. As a social activist, Bono has performed at numerous events intended to raise consciousness about world poverty (such as Band Aid and Live Aid), consorted with world leaders (including George W. Bush and Tony Blair), been named (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) Time's 2005 Person of the Year, and been nominated (in 2003, 2005, and 2006) for the Nobel Peace Prize. According to the lore of the moment, the concert where the superstar supposedly tells the crowd every time he claps his hands another child in Africa dies takes place in Glasgow. Or New York. Or somewhere in Ireland. Typical of such anecdotes, the where changes from telling to telling, and the when is not specified. Example: But it's not a true account of an actual occurrence. It is, rather, an updating of a joke by way of attaching it to a particular performer. This tall tale's origins lie in a commercial made as part of 2005's Make Poverty History campaign. In that ad, a bevy of celebrities (including Bono) are shown wordlessly snapping their fingers every three seconds, with a voiceover stating A child dies completely unnecessarily as a result of extreme poverty every three seconds. As so many things do, the ad provided fodder for stand-up comedians who earn their laughs through their commentary on the pop culture of the day. UK comedian Jimmy Carr said of the commercial on his 2005 Jimmy Carr Live Stand Up 2 DVD: Has anyone else seen those incredibly powerful advertisements in cinemas where each time a famous person clicked their fingers, an African child dies? I watched those, and couldn't help thinking, 'Well stop clicking your fingers!' As to why the joke has attached to Bono, unflattering or dismissive stories about the famous are often a way of giving voice to negative opinions about those who star in such tales. This September 2006 yarn (about the singer's having been heckled by someone in the crowd when he attempted to make the audience more conscious of harsh realities in less fortunate regions) surfaced around the same time as news reports that Bono was calling upon the Irish government to send more aid to Africa. Some have viewed the singer's request as akin to asking others to fund what he himself will not, in light of U2's having moved its music publishing company from Ireland to the Netherlands in early 2006 after Ireland said it would scrap a tax break that let musicians avoid paying taxes on royalties. While tax-avoidance among the super-rich is the common way of things, this particular very wealthy person's seemingly acting to keep his own money out of the tax pool that would fund the increase in aid he was calling for left a bad taste in the mouths of many. Bono and his U2 bandmates continued to pay personal income taxes in Ireland, but their music publishing corporation was being taxed in the Netherlands and so did not contribute to the coffers that funded Ireland's humanitarian efforts in Africa. In September 2007 we saw the tale reworked into a jab at Democratic Presidential nominee hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton: In June 2008, the tale was once again reworked into a jab at a Democratic Presidential nominee hopeful, this time Senator Barack Obama:
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