Mickey Rourke wishes people would take their money back, please

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 โ€œscamโ€ and a โ€œvicious cruel lieโ€ and promising โ€œsevere 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 actorโ€™s name being used now by others to boost their more anonymous efforts.

(A Friday morning search for โ€œMickey Rourkeโ€ on GoFundMe yielded more than a dozen campaigns drafting off the search value of the actorโ€™s high-profile situation but the campaign set up for the โ€œ9ยฝ 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 Rourkeโ€™s manager Kimberly Hines writing, โ€œThank 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 โ€œhumiliatingโ€ and โ€œreally fโ€” embarrassingโ€ in a video posted last week, saying he didnโ€™t need the money.

โ€œI wouldnโ€™t 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 โ€œBarflyโ€ and โ€œAngel Heartโ€ and was Oscar-nominated for his work in 2008โ€™s โ€œThe Wrestler.โ€ โ€œMy life is very simple and I donโ€™t go to outside sources like that.โ€

He said later in the video that he โ€œwould never ask strangers or fans for a nickel. Thatโ€™s not my style.โ€

Hines might disagree, as she said sheโ€™s the one who has been fronting the money to cover Rourkeโ€™s move out of the Beverly Grove house and into a hotel and subsequently into a Koreatown apartment.

Hinesโ€™ assistantโ€™s name had been listed as the creator of the fundraiser, with Hines named as the beneficiary. The actorโ€™s 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.

โ€œNobodyโ€™s trying to grift Mickey. I want him working. I donโ€™t want him doing a GoFundMe,โ€ Hines told THR. โ€œThe good thing about this is that he got four movie offers since yesterday. People are emailing him movie offers now, which is great because nobodyโ€™s 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 โ€œdoing everything in his powerโ€ to make sure people got their โ€œhard earned moneyโ€ back.

He also thanked some โ€œgreatโ€ friends who he said reached out after seeing the โ€œscamโ€ that he needed money, including UFC boss Dana White and fighter Bill โ€œSuperfootโ€ Wallace.

Rourke said in his Jan. 6 video, shot while he was staying at a hotel, โ€œIโ€™m grateful for what I have. Iโ€™ve got a roof over my head, Iโ€™ve got food to eat. … Everythingโ€™s OK. Just get your money back, please. I donโ€™t need anybodyโ€™s money, and I wouldnโ€™t do it this way. Iโ€™ve got too much pride. This ainโ€™t my style.โ€



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