The Wrestler star Mickey Rourke's financial woes have taken another bizarre turn today, as the actor has posted a video denouncing the GoFundMe set up by his longtime manager to pay $60,000 in unpaid rent.
The campaign, which has raised $97,664 as of now, was reportedly launched with Rourke's approval. However, in the video below, he says, "Something's come up that I'm really frustrated, confused, and I don't understand. Somebody set up some kind of foundation or fund for me to donate money. A charity."
"And that's not me. If I needed money, I wouldn't ask for no charity. I'd rather stick a gun up my ass and pull the trigger," Rourke continued. "Whoever did this, I don't know why they did it. I wouldn't know what a GoFundMe is in a million years."
The GoFundMe was launched by Liya-Joelle Jones, an assistant to Kimberly Hines, Rourke's manager for a decade. Seeingly unaware of their involvement, the Sin City star acknowledged, "I did a terrible job managing my career. I wasn't very diplomatic. I had to go to 20 years of therapy to get over that. But I'm not that person anymore."
"I would never ask strangers or fans for a nickel," the 73-year-old stated. "It's not my style. You ask anybody who knows me. It's humiliating and f***ing embarrassing. I want you to get your money back. All things will pass."
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Hines to seek clarification. She said that Rourke has been moved out of his house and is now residing in a West Hollywood Hotel, confirming, "If Mickey doesn’t want this money now and decides, 'I don’t want help, it’s like it’s charity,' the money will be returned."
Pushed on how the idea of a GoFundMe was presented to Rourke, she explained, "We said, 'Mickey, there's some people that want to help you out.' He's like, 'OK, great.' I don't think he understood, and now it’s taken on this media frenzy, and he flipped out."
So, while the near six-figure sum will likely be returned to those who donated in the coming days, things are seemingly looking up for the actor who played Whiplash in Marvel Studios' Iron Man 2.
"Nobody’s trying to grift Mickey. I want him working. I don’t want him doing a GoFundMe. The good thing about this is that he got four movie offers since yesterday," Hines confirmed. "People are emailing him movie offers now, which is great because nobody’s been calling him for a long time."
You can hear more from Rourke in the Instagram post below.