Mickey Rourke wishes people would take their money back, please
Mickey Rourke is doubling down on his disgust over a fundraiser that quickly raised more than $100,000 on his behalf, calling it an embarrassing โscamโ and a โvicious cruel lieโ and promising โsevere repercussions to [the] individual who did this very bad thingโ to him.
At the same time, the fundraiser โ aimed at keeping Rourke in his home when he faced eviction because of almost $60,000 in unpaid rent โ has been taken down, with the actorโs name being used now by others to boost their more anonymous efforts.
(A Friday morning search for โMickey Rourkeโ on GoFundMe yielded more than a dozen campaigns drafting off the search value of the actorโs high-profile situation but the campaign set up for the โ9ยฝ Weeksโ actor was nowhere to be found.)
The GoFundMe had been placed on pause last week after more than $100,000 was raised in two days, with Rourkeโs manager Kimberly Hines writing, โThank you so much for your generosity and for standing with Mickey during this time. Your support truly means a great deal to us, and we are grateful for every donation. We remain committed to finding a resolution and are working with Mickey to determine the next steps.โ
Rejecting the donations, Rourke called the fundraiser โhumiliatingโ and โreally fโ embarrassingโ in a video posted last week, saying he didnโt need the money.
โI wouldnโt know what a GoFund foundation is in a million years,โ said the actor, 73, who was a leading man in the 1980s with movies including โBarflyโ and โAngel Heartโ and was Oscar-nominated for his work in 2008โs โThe Wrestler.โ โMy life is very simple and I donโt go to outside sources like that.โ
He said later in the video that he โwould never ask strangers or fans for a nickel. Thatโs not my style.โ
Hines might disagree, as she said sheโs the one who has been fronting the money to cover Rourkeโs move out of the Beverly Grove house and into a hotel and subsequently into a Koreatown apartment.
Hinesโ assistantโs name had been listed as the creator of the fundraiser, with Hines named as the beneficiary. The actorโs manager of nine years told the Hollywood Reporter on Jan. 6 that Rourke knew the origins of the effort, despite saying he did not: She and her assistant had run the idea past his assistant before it was launched, she said, and both teams were OK with it.
โNobodyโs trying to grift Mickey. I want him working. I donโt want him doing a GoFundMe,โ Hines told THR. โThe good thing about this is that he got four movie offers since yesterday. People are emailing him movie offers now, which is great because nobodyโs been calling him for a long time.โ
But Rourke was still fretting over it Thursday on Instagram, where he said in a couple of posts that there was still more than $90,000 to be returned to his supporters and promised that his attorney was โdoing everything in his powerโ to make sure people got their โhard earned moneyโ back.
He also thanked some โgreatโ friends who he said reached out after seeing the โscamโ that he needed money, including UFC boss Dana White and fighter Bill โSuperfootโ Wallace.
Rourke said in his Jan. 6 video, shot while he was staying at a hotel, โIโm grateful for what I have. Iโve got a roof over my head, Iโve got food to eat. … Everythingโs OK. Just get your money back, please. I donโt need anybodyโs money, and I wouldnโt do it this way. Iโve got too much pride. This ainโt my style.โ