Kylie Jenner has now spoken out about the criticism she faced online after sharing a fundraiser with her fans for MUA Samuel Rauda, who was sadly involved in a serious accident and underwent surgery last week.
Having worked with Rauda in the past, Kylie shared a link to a GoFundMe on her Instagram Story over the weekend along with the caption, “May God watch over you and protect you @makeupbysamuel everyone take a moment to say a prayer for Sam who got into an accident this past weekend. And swipe up to visit his families go fund me.”
The fundraiser was seeking $120,000 to cover medical costs and according to The Sun it had reached $97,000 by Sunday morning, $5,000 of which was reportedly a donation from Kylie. However, fans quickly took to Twitter to share their disappointment, suggesting that Kylie could have covered the costs herself rather than asking her fans to donate with many of them referencing the fact that Kylie has an estimated net worth of $900m.
Twitter user itzla__m wrote, “Kylie Jenner will dead blow 50k on a Hermès bag but not on her friends brain surgery who got in a car accident which could be a life or d.eath [sic] situation … n proceed to ask humans struggling in a pandemic to donate?”
Many others also referenced Kylie’s Birkin bags which she often shows on her social media, and a number of fans brought up the fact that her daughter Stormi also has a number of designer bags worth thousands gifted to her from Kylie.
kylie jenner bought her toddler a $15,000 handbag but is asking her fans for money pic.twitter.com/dH4Rua6Imk
— kaitlyn (@kaitlynsaloser) March 21, 2021
Folks are defending Kylie Jenner by pointing out she donated $5,000 to her makeup artist's medical GoFundMe. Her net worth is $900M.
So, that's 0.000006% of her net worth.
If your net worth were, say, $100k, it would be like donating 56 cents.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) March 21, 2021
Now, Kylie has posted a lengthy statement in response to the backlash and confirmed that she actually did donate $5,000 towards the cause (to meet the intended target), but that after doing so, GoFundMe raised the target once more.
Kylie said on her Instagram Stories of the criticism: “I feel it’s important for me to clear up this false narrative that I’ve asked fans for money and am not paying for my makeup artist’s medical bills. Sam isn’t my makeup artist and unfortunately we don’t have a personal relationship anymore but I have worked with him a few years ago and think he’s the sweetest.”
She also explained that after hearing about Sam’s accident, she called her personal make-up artist Ariel Tejada to ask for more information, “I saw my current makeup artist and friend Ariel post about Sam’s accident and his family’s GoFundMe and I called Ariel immediately to see what happened to Sam. After learning in more detail about the accident it compelled me to visit his GoFundMe which was set at 10K.
“They had already raised 6K so I put it [sic] in 5K to reach their original goal and thought I’d post on my Stories to gain more awareness if anyone also felt compelled to share or donate. I don’t know how all of this got so twisted but his family has reached out through Ariel and are very appreciative of all the donations, prayers, and love towards Sam.”
Kylie added that anyone that knows her, knows she does”things from the heart” and that she “tries to be helpful whenever I can be”. She added that she’ll be keeping Sam and his family in her prayers.
