Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has set the record straight after an X user claimed he was being booed over wildfires in Hawaii.
Johnson is a household name around the world for his work as an actor, but his origins in entertainment stem from the world of professional wrestling.
Being regularly active in the faux-sport from 1996 until 2003, his recent return to World Wrestling Entertainment - both as a performer and as an executive - has been met with varying reactions by both fans and the media.
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And while the wrestler is generally a much loved figure - with his surprise return to WWE being met with joy from fans - this wasn't the case last week.
At a recent press conference for the upcoming WrestleMania XL event, The Rock was widely booed by the fans in attendance - though the reason for such a reaction seems to be up for debate by some onlookers.
While many would attribute it to his in-character actions, in which he played a 'heel' who is meant to be booed by the crowd, journalist Nick Sortor took to X to lambast the actor, stating that he was being booed by the fans in Las Vegas for his lack of aid for the massive fires burning through the second largest island in Hawaii, Maui.
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“CROWD IN VEGAS BOOs ‘THE ROCK’ DEMANDING HE FOLLOW THROUGH WITH AID FOR MAUI,” was the first line of Sortor’s remarks, with the journalist later claiming the crowd was chanting 'MAUI' at the actor to force him to reconcile with his lack of support for the island.
While some commenters, including Fightful reporter Sean Ross Sapp, noted that the crowd was actually chanting 'Cody' at The Rock, a reference to his in-storyline rival, it was The Rock himself who shut down Sortor by quote-retweeting his post and calling it 'toxic, false clickbait garbage'.
The Rock went on to detail how he has supported Maui since the fires left the island destroyed.
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"I typically refrain from responding to toxic, false clickbait garbage like this because I hate dignifying bulls**t with a response, but when you use Hawaii’s tragic events to draw attention to yourself I won’t stay quiet," The Rock wrote in a lengthy X post.
"This moment you’re referring to is from our @WWE press conference this past Thursday where I turned “heel” - wrestling parlance for bad guy.
"I’m playing it up with our crowd as they boo. It’s what we do in our WWE universe, and we all love every second of it."
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The Jumanji star continued: “Our People’s Fund of Maui has already DELIVERED over $50 MILLION DOLLARS to over 8,000 survivors who were affected by the fires.
“Hawaii is where I grew up, where I raise my children throughout the year and where my ancestors are buried. These are my Polynesian people and these are OUR American people.”
He also went on to note that, at the time of his post, he was in Hawaii and encouraged Sortor to help support the state rather than posting antagonistic remarks online.
"Nick, instead of posting bullshit like this that you know is false - I encourage you to post something positive for Hawaii, for our Polynesian American people," Johnson said.
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"Or actually take positive action and come to Hawaii to help out in an uplifting way. I’m in Hawaii now, and I guarantee you, you’ll get great content that can actually make a difference in people’s lives."
The origin of these criticisms of the Black Adam star came due to his original personal contribution to the People’s Fund of Maui, an organization started by Johnson and Oprah Winfrey.
While the pair pooled together $10 million for an initial donation, some people online considered Johnson and Winfrey asking the public for donations to aid in the efforts instead of offering up more of their wealth to be 'tone deaf' to the current economic climate.
Dylan Murray