Clooney, Madonna and Diana Ross will take part in the TV special

Fox TV's Bill O'Reilly suggested on air that not all the cash raised by the 15 January show would go to aid relief.

"Because of it, fewer people will donate money to help truly traumatised victims," objected organiser Clooney.

"All the donations will go to support tsunami relief," American Red Cross spokesman Darren Irby confirmed.

Madonna, Diana Ross, Kevin Spacey, Uma Thurman and Maroon 5 are among the artists due to perform on the two-hour TV benefit show, to be broadcast on US network NBC.

Clooney accused presenter O'Reilly of creating a fuss for his own personal gain, saying that viewers may now be "afraid that their money will do no good".

We're not playing games here, we're trying to save lives. It's as simple as this - you're either with this joint effort or against it George Clooney

He urged O'Reilly to take part in the TV special as a presenter, adding in a letter: "We're not playing games here, we're trying to save lives. It's as simple as this - you're either with this joint effort or against it."

But O'Reilly said before making a decision he wanted to know more about the format of the benefit and how donations would be distributed.

The presenter said he would be "watching to see if the money gets to the tsunami victims" and warned that the celebrities taking part "had better be involved all the way down the line".

Radio return

A similar TV benefit carried by all four main US networks after the 11 September terror attacks raised more than $150m (�80m) for victims of the attacks.

Meanwhile singer Sting, who is due to perform a tsunami aid concert in Australia in February, plans to stage two aid concerts in the Indian cities Bangalore and Delhi early next month.

And broadcaster Chris Evans will return to radio after more than three years off the air to interview Prime Minister Tony Blair, as part of tsunami benefit show UK Radio Aid.