Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shared a video to Instagram on Saturday (October 7th) addressing the criticism he and Oprah Winfrey faced when they announced the People’s Fund of Maui in August. Even though both stars contributed $5 million each to start the fund to provide aid to survivors of the Maui wildfires, fans were upset that a millionaire and a billionaire were asking them for money.
“The thousands and thousands of survivors, the families, they have now, over the past couple of weeks, started to receive their first round of funds,” the Jumanji actor said, updating his followers on the fund.
Pivoting to the controversy, he said, “When we first launched the fund, there was some backlash … I want to say that I get it, and I completely understand.” The Black Adam actor expressed empathy for people who are living “paycheck to paycheck.”
“The last thing you want to hear when you are living from paycheck to paycheck is someone asking you for money, especially when the person asking you for money already has a lot of money,” he added. “So I get it. I understand. I'd never launched a fund before, but I'm a quick study and lesson learned.”
Photo: Neilson Barnard / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images