The Rock says he understands why people online were angry after he and Oprah asked for donations. Pablo Cuadra/WireImage
- Dwayne Johnson has apologized for the way he and Oprah Winfrey solicited donations for their Maui fund.
- Johnson said he understands why people are upset and knows that “money doesn’t grow on trees.”
- Johnson and Oprah Winfrey founded the People’s Fund of Maui in August to help survivors.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson said he understands why people online are upset that he and Oprah Winfrey asked for donations to a relief fund they set up for victims of the Maui wildfires in August.
In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday, Johnson said he had learned from the backlash as fans complained that he and Winfrey should donate more to their fund instead of asking others to donate.
“The last thing you want to hear when you’re living paycheck to paycheck is someone asking you for money, especially if the person asking you for money already has a lot of money,” said Johnson, who is over $389 million Has followers on Instagram. said in the video. The video has garnered over 520,000 likes at the time of writing.
“I get it, and I totally get it, and I could have done better. And I’ll be better next time,” Johnson added.
On August 31, Johnson and Winfrey announced in an Instagram video that they had founded the People’s Fund of Maui, which they said would help raise money for locals affected by the fires. The couple said they each contributed $5 million to start the fund. The couple was criticized online for asking for donations. Some said they lived paycheck to paycheck and couldn’t afford to support themselves.
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“I understand that money doesn’t fall from the sky and doesn’t grow on trees, and there are a lot of people out there living paycheck to paycheck. And I get it, and I know what it’s like, I’ve been living paycheck to paycheck,” Johnson said in his recent video.
In the August video, Johnson and Winfrey said residents whose primary homes were damaged in the Lahaina and Kula fires could receive $1,200 a month from their fund.
“The thousands and thousands of survivors and the families they have now have begun to get their first rounds of fun in the last few weeks,” Johnson said in Sunday’s video. He did not say in the video exactly how much of the money was donated to the residents.
The Maui fires were the deadliest to hit the United States in the last century.
Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside of regular office hours.
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