Dwayne Johnson addressed criticism of his and Oprah's Maui wildfire fund.
Last month, the two launched the People’s Fund of Maui to offer direct support to those affected by the catastrophic fires. Both pledged a combined $10 million to kick things off.
Although it might have seemed well-intentioned, many social media users criticized the billionaire and multimillionaire for asking the public for funds and suggested they donate more instead.
Well, now, Dwayne has addressed that backlash on Instagram.
The actor began his video with an update on the fund, saying: "I have some great news — some awesome news actually that I'm very grateful to share with you guys, and the news is this: 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. They're receiving their money."
Dwayne said it was the "most gratifying and moving thing" to see "all the messages [and] all the videos from the survivors," saying how much the fund had helped them. He also thanked them for their "incredible messages" and said he was "so grateful that you guys have started to receive your first round of funds."
Dwayne then addressed the negative commentary and said he honestly understood why people got upset.
"I get it, and I completely understand, and I could have been better, and next time, I will be better," he said.
"I understand money ain't falling out of the sky," Dwayne continued, "and it's not growing on trees, and there's a lot of people out there who's living paycheck to paycheck. And I get it, and I know what that's like. I've lived paycheck to paycheck, [making] 7 bucks. I know."
"And when you are living paycheck to paycheck — I don't wanna speak for everybody. I'll speak for myself, but I feel it's connected. When you're living paycheck to paycheck...I was easily pissed off, and I was frustrated. And the last thing you wanna 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."
"So I get it. I understand. I'd never launched a fund before, but I'm a quick study and lesson learned," he concluded.
