Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson addressed the backlash he faced for starting a donation fund for victims of the Maui wildfires. The multi-time World Champion and renowned actor admitted that he was initially confused by the criticism, expressing his surprise at the negative response.
In September, The Rock and Oprah launched “The People’s Fund of Maui” to aid Lahaina residents affected by wildfires, with an initial donation of $10 million. The actor then encouraged working-class citizens to contribute to the fund, which triggered a wave of backlash.
Speaking on the “What Now? with Trevor Noah” podcast, The Rock revealed that he woke up the next morning questioning the criticism and took a couple of weeks to process the situation. He emphasized that creating the fund was about helping people and survivors, particularly his Polynesian and Hawaiian community. The actor highlighted the significance of the fund, which is assisting over 8,000 survivors.
Despite the backlash, The Rock underscored the importance of staying focused on the fund’s primary goal and not getting caught up in negativity. The Maui wildfires donation fund represents his commitment to aiding those in need and supporting his community, a cause that remains close to his heart.
“I woke up the next morning wondering the same thing, thinking, what? what happened? Did I miss something? Wait, what? So it took me a couple of weeks to really process that and I felt like that moment was a pivotal moment for me in my life for a few reasons. Number one, I want to go back to the brass tacks of it, and the whole idea of creating this fund, the People’s Fund of Maui, was to help people and help survivors, and Trev, these are my people, these are my Polynesian people, my Hawaiian Kanako, Ohana, my grandparents were all buried in the island, you know, so it meant so much to me and I know it meant so much to our people that we were able to come together and create this fund. Over 8000 survivors, by the way, we are helping right now, it was really beautiful. What’s interesting is when all the backlash started to happen and it started to come our way, so I always feel like in moments like that, it’s important not to get caught up in it.”
