"Tony, if you had any courage and compassion, you'd get over to Indonesia and bring these two boys home," actor Brendan Cowell says in the video. "I think there's clearly an agenda there": Karl Stefanovic was critical of the celebrity campaign. "Show some balls." The clip features other performers including Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Bryan Brown and Deborah Mailman, and calls on Mr Abbott to "show some ticker" and "fly to Jakarta now". After playing the video on the Today show on Tuesday, hosts Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson expressed uncertainty about its content. Wilkinson noted the pair had not seen the film before broadcasting it.

"I think the problem is the Prime Minister has done as much as he believes he can," she said. Actor Brendan Cowell calls on the Prime Minister to "show some balls". Stefanovic said there were elements of the message that were "fantastic" but criticised the implication that Mr Abbott had not done enough to save Chan and Sukumaran. "There's almost an aggressive connotation there that I think is completely and utterly wrong, that I think has missed the mark on every single level," he said. "I think there's clearly an agenda there of some kind and I just don't think it's worth acknowledging at this point."

The Mercy Campaign, which has for several years advocated for clemency and organised vigils to show public support for Chan and Sukumaran, distanced itself from the celebrity appeal. Brigid Delaney, Mercy Campaign co-founder, said the video had nothing to do with them and they only found out about it on Tuesday after it was released. "It's inconsistent with our message - our message that we've always had - which is that the only person who has the power to grant clemency for Myuran and Andrew is the Indonesian president," she said. "We're supportive of the efforts of the Australian Government in advocating on the boys' behalf." The Mercy Campaign is organising a public vigil in Sydney's Martin Place from 6pm on Tuesday evening.

Speaking to 2UE radio on Tuesday morning, Cowell defended the video, and reiterated his belief that Mr Abbott should fly to Indonesia to intervene. "I'm just saying he should be there – we should be throwing every single thing at this," he said. But Cowell did not offer any ideas for what Mr Abbott could do to prevent the execution. "I'm not a politician, I don't know exactly what happens, I don't pretend to, I didn't study it, but all I'm saying is just get in there, just do as much as you can," he said. By 10.30am on Tuesday morning it appeared the video had been taken down from Vimeo, where it was first posted. Cowell also apologised on Twitter, after a backlash from some viewers.