Mickey Rourke is doubling down on his disgust over a fundraiser that shortly raised greater than $100,000 on his behalf, calling it an embarrassing “rip-off” and a “vicious merciless lie” and promising “extreme repercussions to [the] particular person who did this very unhealthy factor” to him.
On the identical time, the fundraiser — aimed toward protecting Rourke in his house when he confronted eviction due to virtually $60,000 in unpaid hire — has been taken down, with the actor’s identify getting used now by others to spice up their extra nameless efforts.
(A Friday morning seek for “Mickey Rourke” on GoFundMe yielded greater than a dozen campaigns drafting off the search worth of the actor’s high-profile scenario however the marketing campaign arrange for the “9½ Weeks” actor was nowhere to be discovered.)
The GoFundMe had been positioned on pause final week after greater than $100,000 was raised in two days, with Rourke’s supervisor Kimberly Hines writing, “Thanks a lot to your generosity and for standing with Mickey throughout this time. Your assist really means a fantastic deal to us, and we’re grateful for each donation. We stay dedicated to discovering a decision and are working with Mickey to find out the subsequent steps.”
Rejecting the donations, Rourke referred to as the fundraiser “humiliating” and “actually f— embarrassing” in a video posted final week, saying he didn’t want the cash.
“I wouldn’t know what a GoFund basis is in 1,000,000 years,” mentioned the actor, 73, who was a number one man within the Nineteen Eighties with motion pictures together with “Barfly” and “Angel Coronary heart” and was Oscar-nominated for his work in 2008’s “The Wrestler.” “My life may be very easy and I don’t go to exterior sources like that.”
He mentioned later within the video that he “would by no means ask strangers or followers for a nickel. That’s not my type.”
Hines may disagree, as she mentioned she’s the one who has been fronting the cash to cowl Rourke’s transfer out of the Beverly Grove home and right into a resort and subsequently right into a Koreatown house.
Hines’ assistant’s identify had been listed because the creator of the fundraiser, with Hines named because the beneficiary. The actor’s supervisor of 9 years advised the Hollywood Reporter on Jan. 6 that Rourke knew the origins of the trouble, regardless of saying he didn’t: She and her assistant had run the concept previous his assistant earlier than it was launched, she mentioned, and each groups had been OK with it.
“No one’s attempting to grift Mickey. I need him working. I don’t need him doing a GoFundMe,” Hines advised THR. “The advantage of that is that he obtained 4 film presents since yesterday. Persons are emailing him film presents now, which is nice as a result of no person’s been calling him for a very long time.”
However Rourke was nonetheless fretting over it Thursday on Instagram, the place he mentioned in a few posts that there was nonetheless greater than $90,000 to be returned to his supporters and promised that his legal professional was “doing the whole lot in his energy” to ensure folks obtained their “hard-earned cash” again.
He additionally thanked some “nice” associates who he mentioned reached out after seeing the “rip-off” that he wanted cash, together with UFC boss Dana White and fighter Invoice “Superfoot” Wallace.
Rourke mentioned in his Jan. 6 video, shot whereas he was staying at a resort, “I’m grateful for what I’ve. I’ve obtained a roof over my head, I’ve obtained meals to eat. … Every thing’s OK. Simply get your a refund, please. I don’t want anyone’s cash, and I wouldn’t do it this fashion. I’ve obtained an excessive amount of satisfaction. This ain’t my type.”
