Wyclef Jean Defends Charity, Calls for Evacuation of Haitian Capital

Wyclef Jean defended his charity and called for an evacuation of Haiti's capital, The Associated Pressreported.

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"Port-au-Prince is a morgue," Jean said during a New York City press conference. With tears running down his face, the Haitian-born music star recounted his recent trip to his homeland, where he collected the corpses of small children and adults from the streets.

"We need to migrate at least 2 million people," Jean said. "I give you my word, if I tell them to go, they will go. But they need somewhere to go to."

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During the conference Monday, Jean also defended his charity, Yele Haiti Foundation, which recently came under fire by The Smoking Gun for its practices.

"Have we made mistakes before? Yes. Did I ever use Yele money for personal benefit? Absolutely not," said Jean.

One of the mistakes made by the organization was the decision to buy $250,000 of airtime on a for-profit TV station in Haiti owned by Jean and another foundation board member, the organization's president, Hugh Locke, told the AP.

Locke defended the decision by saying Yele thought it was getting a good deal for airtime in a prevalently illiterate nation, but added that the matter would be handled differently now.

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Yele, which received more than $2 million in donations during the past few days, plans to send donated supplies to the earthquake-ravaged country, according to Locke. The foundation is still deciding how to spend the donated funds, but are considering mobile schools for refugee camps and security to escort supplies.

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