Kanye West, Black Eyed Peas’s will.i.am and U2’s Larry Mullen Jr are just some of the stars lending their voices to new Family Guy cartoon spin-off The Cleveland Show.

The series, showing on E4 in the UK, and created by Family Guy boss Seth MacFarlane follows the adventures of Cleveland Brown and his family.

Mike Henry, who voices the main character said: “Kanye could not be a cooler guy at our show - we do definitely have some jokes where he makes light of himself.”

“He does some things out in public that stir up controversy and opinions. He knew that and we contacted him and he was totally up for doing the part.”

U2’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr also got in touch with the programme’s creators through a mutual friend and asked to be involved.

 Black Eyed Pea’s will.i.am voices a character in season two

“He came in and we hung out for a couple of hours. We just recorded him doing a couple of different parts and he was very funny.

“It’s a thrill for me to do all this. U2 is my favourite band of all time and David Lynch the film director plays a part on our show.

“He [Mullen Jnr] plays a mobster in one episode; he plays a bad Elvis impersonator by design in another episode.

“He’s got his own studio so we just record it from Dublin. You don’t have to record at a certain time. It’s an easy gig and one that people like to do.

“It’s very cool to have all these people from different walks of entertainment participating in what we’re doing.”

The Cleveland Show airs at 10pm on E4 every Monday.

Bono slammed for U2’s decision to play in Israel

Rock star and activist Bono and his band U2 face a boycott and action from pro-Palestinian groups after agreeing to play in Israel this summer.

The influential Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) has urged Bono to ‘say no to Israel,’ pointing out he has turned down a similar invitation two years ago.

“Performing in Israel would violate the almost unanimously endorsed Palestinian civil society Call for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. This Call is directed particularly towards international activists, artists, and academics of conscience, such as yourself. Moreover, it would come a year and a half after Israel’s bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip which left over 1,440 Palestinians dead, of whom 431 were children, and 5380 injured, ” the letter stated.
 
The letter also called on Bono to live by what he recently wrote in The New York Times. “In a recent New York Times op-ed, you wrote of your hope ‘that the regimes in North Korea, Myanmar and elsewhere are taking note of the trouble an aroused citizenry can give to tyrants.’

“You went on to further elaborate on the hope that “people in places filled with rage and despair, places like the Palestinian territories, will in the days ahead find among them their Gandhi, their King, their Aung San Suu Kyi.” Rather than shifting the blame from the violence of the colonial oppressor to the resistance of the indigenous oppressed and characterizing the Palestinians as a population filled with “rage and despair,” it is more apt to consider them among the “aroused citizenry” responding to tyranny – Israel‘s regime of occupation and apartheid.”

The letter goes on to praise Bono’s activism in other conflict resolution areas: “A whole generation was affected by your musical activism, when you sang of the civil rights movement in America, the everyday human heroes in El Salvador and the brave struggles in Ireland – you filled a space that forced political morality into pop culture. Entertaining apartheid Israel despite all the injustice it is committing against the Palestinians would significantly smear this great legacy of yours.

Universal Music, Label for U2, Names Grainge

Universal Music Group said Lucian Grainge will take over as its new chief executive officer from Jan. 1, replacing Doug Morris, who’s led the world’s largest music company since 1995.

Grainge, the 49-year-old head of its international music operations, will become co-CEO with Morris as of July 1, and the sole chief from Jan. 1, Universal’s owner, Paris-based Vivendi SA, said in a statement today.

Universal Music, whose artists include U2, Lady Gaga and Eminem, saw revenue decline 5.2 percent in the nine months ended September amid music-industry piracy and a drop in the number of CDs sold. Morris said late last year he “mentored” Grainge for the role as CEO the past five years.

Stand Up To Cancer On Demand

Comcast Corporation and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) have launched the second installment of musical assets for Stand Up 2 Cancer On Demand, the first-ever video-on-demand (VOD) initiative focused on broadening awareness and raising funds for innovative cancer research, which debuted on Comcast in December. Twenty-eight additional artists are providing content to On Demand, adding to the library of musical entertainment that already includes many of the world’s biggest stars. In addition, select content from Stand Up 2 Cancer On Demand is available on comcast.net.

Available for no additional cost to viewers in more than 18 million Comcast homes through March 14th, Stand Up 2 Cancer On Demand features more than 60 of viewers’ favorite artists including: Beastie Boys, Ben Harper, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Common, The Dixie Chicks, Diana Krall, Duran Duran, John Legend, John Mayer, Joss Stone, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Kenny Chesney, Mary J. Blige, Melissa Etheridge, Ne-Yo, Sugarland, Tina Turner, U2 and more.