Sean Penn urges sex strike

Cannes - Actor and activist Sean Penn urged a glamorous party of Cannes actresses and glitterati to go on a sex strike unless their men stumped up at a charity auction held for Haiti on Friday night.

Jessica Chastain and Cannes juror Diane Kruger were among the stars who turned out for a "Carnival in Cannes" fundraiser held by the US actor on the sidelines of the Riviera filmfest, jointly with Italian couturier Giorgio Armani.

"I want every woman in this room, in solidarity with the women of Haiti who have suffered more than any women in the world, to tell the man sitting next to her: 'I am not going to fuck you tonight unless you pay up!'," Penn told the room.

Tickled pink by Penn's outburst, his guests at the Agora pavilion by the Riviera festival palace duly paid out a total of 1.3 million euros ($1.65m) to help Haiti recover from its devastating 2010 quake.

Celebrities present included Cannes jurors Jean-Paul Gaultier and Ewan McGregor, Chastain's co-stars in the Madagascar franchise Ben Stiller and Chris Rock, as well as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Meeting Prince Albert

Among the lots snapped up, two VIP seats for a U2 concert and a guitar belonging to the band's frontman Bono raised 200 000 euros, alongside VIP seats for the Golden Globes and invitations to meet Monaco's Prince Albert.

Three people spent 100 000 euros each to spend three days with Penn in Haiti, while two portraits painted by Obama's campaign poster artist Shepard Fairey went for 100 000 and 110 000 euros.

Proceeds will go to three aid groups: Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organisation, Artists for Peace and Justice, and Happy Heart's Fund.

Penn, who has been named ambassador at large for Haiti, showed a message of thanks recorded by Haitian President Michel Martelly, playing the piano and singing.

The 12 January 2010, earthquake killed 250 000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. According to UN figures, it killed, injured or displaced one in six of the Caribbean nation's population of almost 10 million.