'Sad' Oprah was horrified at 'vitriol' spat after Maui fire fund with the Rock

15 September 2023 , 21:08

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Oprah Winfrey and The Rock's donation came with major backlash

Oprah Winfrey spoke out about the backlash she received following a $10million (£8.1million) donation to the victims of the Maui, Hawaii fires alongside Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.

On CBS Mornings, she said: "It made me sad that we are at this state in our country. So, we thought, $10million, we start off the fun, we'll do what Dolly did, get other people to give money and then we'll put it directly into the people's bank accounts. I was so excited about it, and then I got up the next morning, and I saw all of this vitriol and I was like, 'Whoa, what happened here?'"

Critics were not pleased with Oprah's charitable decision to help mitigate the financial damages caused by the wildfires. She, herself, donated $5million (£4million) and The Rock matched her donation, but fans still had something to roll their eyes over. The celebrity duo were slammed by fans who thought it simply wasn't enough.

Oprah and The Rock each donated $5 million (oprah/Instagram)

Fans felt that those donations simply weren't enough (oprah/Instagram)

The two have a combined net worth of over $2.8million (£2.3million). However, they encouraged their fans to also give to the fund, but they weren't thrilled about the call to action. From their perspective, the donations from celebrities were meagre in comparison to the funds that they do have. By asking fans for money, they came off as insensitive to some.

Musician Maribel Rubio lashed out at Oprah. She wrote "You have billions. You could donate $100million and still be as wealthy as before donating. YOU give the money."

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Another fan echoed Maribel. They said on the Instagram picture, that has now had comments turned off and wiped: "Billionaire asking for money from the poor, what a joke."

Despite the hate, Oprah wrote: "It takes a village and I’m so proud to be a part of the village bringing aid to the Maui residents affected by the wildfires with [People's Fund of Maui]. From the 10,000 people who have personally donated to the organisations who have been helping since day one to the community leaders who offered their insights to the friends calling me saying they too want to support, we thank you."

Following her CBS Mornings interview, a video clip was posted to YouTube. The comments continued the fans' raging fury. One wrote: "Well this didn’t take long- Oprah Winfrey now say’s [sic] that she’s a victim of the Maui fire because people got mad at her when she asked them for donations instead of using some of her own billions to assist Maui residents who lost all in the fires."

Alex West