Michael Sheen calls for donations to help flood victims

London: Actor Michael Sheen is calling for donations to help victims of the UK floods just days after he sparked a backlash by suggesting the British Government should not redirect foreign aid money to those affected.

The "Welsh" actor came under fire after he appeared to suggest money earmarked for oversees charity projects should not be used to help the clean-up efforts at home after storms battered Britain and caused devastation in the north of England, reported Contactmusic.

During an appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sheen declared, "A lot of the talk today has been about, 'Where does charity begin?... Does it begin at home? Why should we be helping children and people from other countries when there's so much suffering... in our own country?'... "I can understand why people get so worried about giving money to other countries, but of course 0.7 per cent of the national income goes on foreign aid... The false dichotomy of pushing British people against foreigners, or shirkers against strivers, it's a false argument..."

However, Sheen has now moved to clarify his position by insisting more help needs to be given to those who lost their homes in the flooding. In a post on Twitter, the actor shared a link to a fundraising page taking donations for the flood victims, and added, "To be clear - absolute first priority of gov should be whatever support is needed to help those affected by floods... Where that money comes from and why this wasn't prevented in first place are secondary to getting help to where it's needed ASAP."