‘The Rock’ has a hard Conversation after the controversial Maui Relief Fund video he made with Oprah Winfrey.
After facing backlash alongside media mogul Oprah Winfrey, actor and retired professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson is now breaking his silence about their joint efforts to launch a fund for the Maui wildfires.
The bushfires claimed the lives of dozens of people after leaving a devastating path of destruction on the once happy island. Many were displaced while Johnson and Winfrey went viral asking the public for donations. The continued backlash comes from both fans and critics, who criticize the two successful celebrities for their audacity in asking others to donate to the Maui People’s Fund and they allegedly did not provide help out of their own pockets to those affected by the tragedy.
“When we first launched the fund, there was some reaction… And I want to address and acknowledge that reaction right now, and this is what I have to say about it,” Johnson began in a video he posted to his Instagram.
“I get it. And I completely get it. And I could have been better, and next time I’ll be better. I understand that money doesn’t fall from the sky and it doesn’t grow on trees.”
Johnson confided in his followers saying:
“There are a lot of people who live paycheck to paycheck and I understand that and I know what that is. I have lived paycheck to paycheck. I know what that’s like and when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, I don’t want to speak for everyone, I’ll speak for myself, but I feel like it’s connected.
“When you live paycheck to paycheck, I got angry easily and frustrated, and the last thing you want to hear when you live paycheck to paycheck is someone asking you for money, especially when the person asking you for money already has a lot of money.”
As a final comment, Johnson told his followers: “I get it, I get it, I never launched a fund before, but I was a quick learner and I learned my lesson.”
During an appearance in cbs mornings, Winfrey has also spoken out about the looming backlash to the fund. She admitted that she felt “blindsided” by the reaction and she feels that the negative attention “diverted attention from what was most important, which is the people of Maui.”
“So this idea came about because I was on the ground, talking to a lot of people, trying to figure out how best to help,” Winfrey said. Immediately after the incident, the renowned journalist wasted no time and contributed to the shelters by donating essential supplies.
C.B.S.
Despite this, Winfrey shared that after speaking with those affected, she learned that they “really wanted their own agency.”
Gayle King then helped Winfrey by sharing how Dolly Parton helped victims affected by the Gatlinburg, Tennessee, wildfires in 2017.
Parton raised money through a concert and then distributed it directly to families displaced by the disaster.
“I thought, ‘Wow! That’s the idea,” Winfrey said. So he teamed up with Johnson to try to do the same thing.
“We thought, since we’ve both donated to charities our entire lives, that starting the fund with $10 million would be a great idea,” he explained. “We’ll do what Dolly did, we’ll get other people to give money and then we’ll put it directly into people’s bank accounts.”
“I was so excited. I was so excited about it,” she continued, “And then I woke up the next morning, saw all this vitriol, and thought, ‘Wow, what happened here?'”
However, the two kept the fun open. Winfrey shares that they have since verified 2,200 people receiving money from the fund directly. Still, Winfrey expressed feeling “sad because we are in this state in our country.”
While this certainly clears things up, it may take a little while before everything settles down. In the meantime, our hearts go out to the people affected by the Maui fires.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn