Kylie Jenner is a billionaire or close to being a billionaire. She’s made her money from her Kylie Cosmetics empire and from her own ability to mine a somewhat niche market. Kylie works with various makeup artists to create her Instagram ad campaigns to promote all of her products, and one of those makeup artists is named Samuel Rauda. Rauda was in a car accident and he has some kind of major head injury. He needed a life-saving brain surgery and so someone in the Rauda family created a GoFundMe page to get to $120K to help pay for Rauda’s medical bills. Kylie… donated $5,000. And she encouraged her followers to donate. That isn’t going over too well.
Kylie Jenner sparked outrage on Twitter over the weekend after encouraging fans to contribute to an online fundraiser for celebrity makeup artist Samuel Rauda, who was involved in a serious incident and underwent surgery last week.
Jenner, 23, who has worked with Rauda, had recently promoted a GoFundMe page dedicated to funding his medical expenses on her Instagram story, telling her 222 million followers: “Swipe up to visit his families [sic] go fund me,” according to The Sun. The request didn’t sit well with fans, who noted Jenner could have potentially funded the costs as she has an estimated net worth of just under $900 million.
“Why is kylie jenner asking for donations to fund her makeup artist’s surgery when she’s a billionaire,” one user tweeted.
“If I was as rich as Kylie Jenner I simply wouldn’t ask ppl on the internet to donate for my best friend’s brain surgery but we all built different i guess!” another posted.
“How come Kylie Jenner isn’t paying her makeup artist enough to afford a 60k surgery? That’s the real question. Her business is makeup. He’s her makeup artist! He’s not bringing in millions?!?” one wrote.
Earlier this week, a GoFundMe page was set up to help cover Rauda’s medical expenses. Under a list of top donations, a “kylie jenner” appeared to donate $5,000. As of Sunday, over $97,000 has been raised with a goal of $120,000.
“We would like to extend our most sincere thanks to each and everyone who has donated or sent prayers in support of Samuel,” organizer Johanna Portillo posted to the page Saturday. “We have felt the love and know that your continued prayers for healing are very much appreciated. It has been uplifting to witness how Sam not only brought a ray of shine to our lives but to many across the world. It has been a week since Sam’s accident. It has not been easy. In the midst of it all, Sam continues to fight, showing us how strong he truly is. Please continue to send prayers his way,” she continued.
Amid Sunday’s backlash, some defended Jenner online.
“She didn’t organize the gofundme page, it was published by Johanna Portillo 5 days ago. + the goal is $120,000 & she made a donation on Day 2 when she found out about the gofundme page probably. The fact that she donated something is important. Dnt write her off,” one user posted.
I mean… would it have looked better if Kylie had just donated the full $120K? Sure. Would it have looked better if she had donated more than $5K? Sure. Do we even know whether Kylie was even that close to Rauda? No, we don’t. So… yeah. Tone deaf, absolutely. But I also think… you know, she could have just said nothing and donated nothing too. That seems to be what most of Rauda’s clients were doing, you know?
Photos courtesy of Kylie’s IG and Getty.
The Klan family is not known for being generous.
Some while ago it came out that used pieces they tried to sell off as charity contributions came to about 10 percent they eventually donated.
They used to have “charity auctions” on Ebay. They would sell their used clothes and in the very small fine print it would say only 10% went to charity ! They were selling stuff they got for free too, including t-shirts from talk shows !
With regards to Kylie and this story, the GoFundMe page was initially asking for 60K. She donated 5K early on. Now they are asking for 120K. What is 60K to this chic? Why ask your followers to help? Does she not know what’s been going on in the world the past year? The REAL question is, if this guy was an employee of Kylie’s, why the f*ck does she not offer medical insurance ???
I do not think he was an employee…it sounds from the story like he is a self-employed makeup artist who did some work with Kylie Cosmetics and/or Kylie on a personal basis. It appears that he works for different clients, and it is unclear how much work he did for her and/or her company or how well they knew each other.
@ BearcatLawyer
I read he worked on all her campaigns? I don’t know…so much misinformation out there.
Bearcat
From how this is being written in various articles it sounds like he works through a blend of self employment/agency.
I’m probably giving an unpopular opinion, but this guy has had loads of elective procedures. That could have been rainy day money. And who knows how many clients could have donated the full amount. It doesn’t sound like Kylie and this person on her or her company’s occasional employment were. That she gave anything is something.
Also, it’s not like they cancel the surgery without cash upon service. They bill you or insurance pays. And he did have car insurance I’m assuming.
It’s pretty heartless to assume that he has had “loads of elective procedures”. He’s great with make-up, and that can give the appearance of fillers, etc.. And even if he has touched his face, fillers are so much less expensive than brain surgery.
I think they still have a website that sells their clothes, I wont name it bc they dont need any more publicity
I remember this hideous closet! They got sued by so many designers that lent them clothes only to be sold.
I heard on several YT videos that say Kylie earns a half-million dollars a day, and that this was only .0000006 % of her income. Which is almost 20k an hour. I don’t think Kylie and her millionaire friends should ask the poor population to donate to her friend when she can do it in a minute.
I think that was a sizeable donation. I’m not a Kylie fan but I find it weird to dictate how much somebody should donate even if they’re a billionaire. It’s called a donation.
Nah, eat the rich
Yes!
I don’t follow them but this is silly. If you want to criticize her for not donating, it should be about her (lack of) contribution /donation to society in general, her detriment to society (girls and women’s self images, hyper sexualisation of children, possibly promoting diet tea?, the fact that she probably sells stuff made by uyghurs in china When she could afford to sell and produce Her junk only locally and or ethically). Yeah she’s not nice altruistic or generous, that’s pretty obvious. Someone in her circle didn’t need to get hurt/need money for that to be obvious though. I find it disturbing that she has all these ignorant fans who are so blind to think she’s great until this happened
I will never understand Kardashian fans. It is what it is I guess.
^^ this. You said it best!
The donation amount isn’t the problem.
I dont like to agree with a kardashian, but I would probably have given the same amout even if I was a multibilliontetralionaire. I mean I would given whatever amount directly to the person 50K, 100K, 120K. but I think I would not give high amoutns to a 3rd person outside the family organizing the gofundme. This would not make it pass Kriss jenner for approval.
I’m sure Kylie is conscious that a 5K in her pocket is more like a 5$ for real people.
She’s a selfish grifter. This is surprising to no one.
If I had 1/4 of the money that Kiley has and a co-worker, collaborator or employee of mine required a lifesaving operation/therapy/medicine I would pay the full price for it. The fact that she has that much money and does not do charity or anything of the sort for me is pretty urgh. It’s her money sure, money that she got from nepotism.
A comment on Twitter relating to this said something to the effect that the wrong people have money. So true.
Paying for his surgery is a drop in the pool for her, yet she gives less money than she spends on her cosmetic touch-ups. He needs brain surgery, Kylie. Not plastic surgery.
Gross, but that’s the wealthy for you. We could solve this with nationalized healthcare, but there’s another area where the ultra wealth have convinced people it’s not worth it because they don’t want help pay for it. Like goddamn, just tax them already. This pandemic showed everyone in full what a bunch of social parasites they are.
This being said, with celebrities, I do sometimes wonder how much of it is how rich they really are. Net worth and actual cash on hand are two very different things. They get away with a lot because they can pull in immense credit lines, but that’s also why a certain percentage of them wind up crashing and burning financially without good oversight because they overextend themselves.
Yeah, as a non-American, these stories are so weird. You should be able to get life-saving surgery without a GoFundMe page. Access to medical care is a basic human right. These rich people should be taxed way more, you should spend less on defence, and you should have a proper medical system that gives everyone the medical care they need, regardless of their income.
It’s the equivalent of me donating 15 cents. It’s cheap.
Yeah that was my thought too! She doesn’t have to donate, but she chose to…and to donate so “little” is an odd choice. If a friend asked me to donate to their medical care, I wouldn’t give them 15 cents. If you’re going to donate, really do it. It was just a weird choice.
1. People should not have to use GoFundMe to afford medical care. We live in a capitalist hellscape that is entirely alien to most other developed countries. 2. Extremely wealthy celebrities should not be soliciting donations on GoFundMe from their definitely-not-extremely-wealthy fans.
That’s it. That’s the tea.
Precisely! It’s crazy all the way around that so many people have to solicit donations to pay for health care. And yeah, if you’re a billionaire it’s a bad look to give $5K and encourage your not-so-wealthy fans to give what is proportionately a lot more.
You’re points are solid and I completely agree.
Ah, America. The country where we will helpfully pool our resources to support people’s surgeries via a website, but when it’s suggested we do the same at a national level, we decide we can’t have that because socialism!!!
That is a family of vultures, and I get both points but even if she paid the full amount, it’s a drop in the bucket for her. Although to be fair, the original goal was a lot lower.
She spent much more on a birthday party for a one year old.
Ew, true. I was going into this thinking well 5k is a ton of money for me. But it’s in perspective like that, just ew.
If she doesn’t want to donate her own money she could do some kind of a fundraiser where she goes live and interacts with fans for a $10 donation or something and she’d probably make his goal.
I don’t understand why celebrities share go funds me when they could easily pay for the whole thing. It just shows how tone deaf and selfish they are. She isn’t too bright if she didn’t realize there would be backlash. 100% agree with the comment that she doesn’t deserve her wealth. She was born into the right family and didn’t earn it herself and isn’t willing to share.
Her 3 year old daughter has handbags that cost more than the surgery.
The whole family is disgusting.
As a non-American I am so baffled by these stories. Someone has to have a GoFundme page to afford life-saving surgery??? What on earth is the US government doing?
Majority of Congresspersons and a substantial portion of the population are against any sort of “socialized” healthcare because they don’t care about anyone but themselves and/or think a person dying due of lack of medical treatment is the will of an imaginary deity.
The Congresspeople also have excellent health care that they don’t pay for. So they have no motive to back a national health care program.
Screwing American citizens to benefit billionaires.
Non American here, same reaction.
Our healthcare here (Europe) it’s far from perfect, but I am not scared to go to the hospital or to the doctor and it’s not free: it’s paid by our taxes.
For me what is really shocking is that you have to start a go found me to be healthy, not Kylie’ donation, you should go after your government not after a celebrity.
I can’t believe people here are defending her, like “well it’s her prerogative to give $5k, or nothing at all.” Actually, no, when you are that obscenely wealthy the social contract (which has been ripped to shred the past few decades) is that you give that money back to people who need it. Perhaps beginning with your own employee or someone who works for you or with you.
This actually makes me nostalgic for the “robber baron” days of Andrew Carnegie, who granted violently exploited workers but at least funded the public good in return– hence the Carnegie foundation, money for artists and writers, big public libraries, etc. TO BE CLEAR, the best way to fund the public good is to not have robber barons — to instead actually make people pay their taxes that can fund healthcare–but I’m invoking Carnegie only to draw a point about how the wealthy and ultra-rich proceed these days: all for me, nothing for you. Kardashians very much like the Trumps in this sense. They can’t even be bothered to spare a small percentage of their massive wealth for the good of others. It’s vile. And it’s BAD BAD BAD when things are so bad these days that you *wish* for the days of the robber barons who at least gave *something* back to the public good!
I agree. If you’ve seen the unretouched paparazzi candids of her out and about without makeup, it’s obvious that Samuel and his fellow makeup artists work wonders on Kylie in her ads and instas and are the big reason for the success of her makeup line that has made her a billionaire. She shouldn’t think twice about paying the whole bill for him.
My whole thing is that she advertised it. Like, she really thought we’d be impressed by a 5K donation and not immediately go, “Bitch, are you for real right now?”
I’m not remotely wealthy, but I could technically donate $5K right now and not be terribly hurt by it between what I have in savings and checking. The fact that I – a middle class adult with no children, limited debt, and income under six digits – can afford to do that should tell you everything about how repulsively disingenuous donating 5K is for somebody of her social class.
God, you wonder how it got to the point where people’s heads were getting chopped off during the French revolt, and then you look around at the moneyed fools you have here, and you get it. They’re just that disgustingly certain hoarding all that wealth will never backfire on them.
I would have just cut the check to avoid this attention.
But that family thrives off attention, good or bad so.
Or she could have paid the whole amount because it’s great publicity. How many cars and homes does she own? How much does she pay for lavish birthday parties and vacations? Even if she barely knows him giving $5k is not a good look.
It’s a weird situation. On the one hand, she’s not responsible for him and not required to give a dollar.
But, $5k is such a strange amount for someone with her wealth, right? That’s like me giving 10 cents or something. Like, why not give $100k if you’re going to give $5k? It’s nothing to her.
It really bothers me that she donated a measly amount (for her) and then turned around and told her fans and followers to donate too. While she also uses her platform to flaunt her wealth.
If I were in her position, I would have donated the whole amount quietly, and then used the huge platform to campaign for universal healthcare.
Great comment (this is to KatianaD’s comment above, wrong place)! I agree, her donation and what she could have done are the tipping point of a much deeper issue with people like her. She’s making money on the backs of gullible women, on the backs of desperate working populations. That hasn’t changed from the minute she first appeared on TV.
I think it’s not any wealthy person’s responsibility to pay for every debt and emergency for people connected to them. It’s nice to help, which she did, both by donating and by sharing the link.
What kills me is that she’s asking for donations for her makeup artist from people who are most likely struggling during this pandemic. Mentally and financially. Meanwhile, the K Klub is running around on vacations (I know Kylie has been traveling/partying) and continue to make their money. It’s incredible tone deaf and gross for wealthy people to solicit money at this time.
I’m no Kardashian apologizer, BUT when the go-fund me started they were requesting $10,000. They had already raised $6k, and she donated $5k , so it was half their goal and put it past the original goal. Then when she shared, it was upped to $60k for the goal. Now it’s at $120K goal.
But then why would she promote it to her followers? If her donation had pushed them past the original goal then there would have been no reason to encourage more to donate.
Exactly. If she had met/exceeded the original goal and that was the end of it, fine. But asking her fans to donate is what really bothers me.
If one follower donates $5 or $1 that is still something though. She probably did not think there was any harm sharing. If anyone is struggling, they’re not obliged to donate. I think it’s just my culture talking because to me a sincere donation is always a blessing. I’m going to assume she is sincere at least this one time. I still find her problematic in general. I don’t know what is her appeal.
Anyway if others find the amount problematic, I think they have raised fair points to justify their reasoning.
Maybe he did not even to do that much for her work/brand. Maybe she paid him a lot and he chose not to buy health insurance because he’s young he thought he wouldn’t need it. It would be different if he’s a regular full time employee with benefits and it was done recommended procedure that insurance was refusing to pay. There’s a lot left out. Is she supposed to pay for the full cost of healthcare to anyone who has ever provided her with a service? Not sure expectations are appropriate.
I mean, it’s unclear how well she really knows him, so I don’t care how much or little she donated. But I do think it’s super inappropriate when very wealthy celebrities encourage their followers to donate money to GoFundMe pages.
The concept of GoFundMe disturbs me in general when it comes to medical care. People shouldn’t need to ask for money to get life-saving surgery. Healthcare in the US is horrifying.
She bought a 14 000$ Hermès bag for her daughter just to flex on the gram but can’t give money to a friend for a live surgery. It makes me sick that it’s people like her that are wealthy in this planet.
I agree. We need a new system. Capitalism is rewarding to turdly people in general.
She’s probably spent more on a pair of shoes so, yeah, 5k is pretty paltry. Plus, since it’s a donation it’s also a tax write-off, right?
I don’t think gofundme campaigns are deductible.
Yeah that would only be donations to proper registered charities, not individuals
If Kylie was concerned about his health and well being, she should’ve shared it with the people in her circle, the ones with bank accounts on par with her own. Not her average, every day normal fans. This was in really poor taste.
I read on Reddit that she has a collection of Hermes bags estimated at well into the millions… but she thinks that it’s appropriate to ask every day people to help her makeup artist pay for his surgery. GTFOH. I don’t care about the fact that Kim is trying to be a more serious person these days… I will never support anything these people do or promote because they’re all gross and delusional.
Aren’t we allowed to give someone like 11k/yr ‘tax free’ I wish she’d given more and not pushed this onto the backs of her fans.
i wish people would stop saying ‘eat the rich’ with regards to the kardashians. plastics are a choking hazard you know.
I have to be honest this is the first time I’ve seen a full length shot of her. Is that what she looks like? How much plastic surgery did she do to her body?
And how is she the most successful Kardashian?
She’s absolutely disgusting & makes me sick. Me giving $5 is equal to her giving $120,000, the bitch can easily afford it. The amount of money she spends on her kid’s one birthday party is equal to this.
Her mama taught her well how not to be generous outside the Klan.
What is it they say, that “Old money whispers, new money shouts?”
Absolutely.
Did this person not have health insurance or are these bills on top of their health coverage? Is this person a freelancer or a paid employee? Is Jenner their only celebrity client? If they are a paid employee, her company should be providing health insurance and cover the outstanding costs. If they are freelance, California has many health insurance options available through both the state and cities to get health coverage. This is why it is better for people like Jenner should be taxed more for everyone to get comprehensive health coverage, instead of us relying on their good graces or generosity. Yeah it’s a bad look for Jenner and maybe she’ll be pressured into giving more, but it’s not celebrities responsibility to fix our broken healthcare system. I’m of two minds on this because it is absolutely awful the burden this person and their family is going through to get medical care, but those shaming Jenner led to them getting more money for their GoFundMe. As noted above, their other celebrity clients haven’t exactly stepped up either.
The thing is they actually did. Huda Beauty, Sofia Riche etc… all gave money. Huda actually did donate more than kylie. That being said kylie has the funds to pay everything. What’s the point of having money if you can even help your friend in need ?
Even with “health coverage”, many plans are have high deductibles and co-pay/co-ins rates. Even with insurance, people can owe a lot of money when they require extensive medical care.
I would assume even if bulk of medical costs are covered by insurance, there’s a lot of deductibles and other expenses, and it sounds like he’ll be out of work for a long time.
I was out of work for several months with an injury a few years ago, and it would have been very tough to pay bills if I hadn’t had savings. It took a long time to get temporary disability benefits too.
I see a few people defending her saying that it’s her money and she can do what she wants with it. Also saw a comment that we don’t know how much she actually knows him and that justifies her measly 5k donation.
I’m adamantly against this idea that the ultra wealthy can do what they want with their money. Primary reason is how do you think they got their fortunes? Through labor and consumerism of the 99%. Additionally, this makeup artist helped her with campaigns that contributed to her success. She could have quietly donated the money and urged her wealthy friends to do so as well (if she wouldn’t cover the entire cost). Asking her followers to do so while millions are unemployed and the pandemic continues to ravage lives and jobs is completely gone deaf and insensitive. These people are the definition of narcissistic personality disorder.
I won’t even go on my rant about our completely f**ked health care system.
My point is: don’t defend the wealthy. They don’t achieve wealth without money from middle and working class folks.
This is everything. You are exactly right and thank you for saying it so well.
That’s the price of one Hermes bag that would not have matched with her tacky Lycra jumpsuit anyway. She should have just donated the full amount.
I’m no Kylie apologist (in fact I can’t stand her) but just a few points on this.
We don’t know if she donated publicly AND privately. A co-worker of mine has cancer and their family started a GoFundMe, so the owner of our company donated publicly to that and also privately via a check directly to the person so they would have the full amount of the donation and not have additional GoFundMe fees taken out. Some people don’t like to show the world what they are doing as far as donating goes and prefer to do it more privately.
Second, it looks like this GoFundMe goal has been increased several times. It was at 10k (word is that Kylie donated and shared it when it was at 10k and it had already raised 6k so she donated the rest and then some) then it was upped to 60k, and now it’s at 120k. Who knows if that much money is really needed for the medical bills? Going from needing 10k to needing 120k after the story got attention seems really…off. The description of the fundraiser just says “for medical bills and what’s to come” which is pretty vague. It doesn’t mention whether or not he has health coverage (like maybe he has a high deductible plan and was looking for 10k to cover max out of pocket costs initially), or how much the surgeries and treatment cost, or anything really.
Sorry to be such a downer but you see it all the time with fundraisers. Maybe the organizer/makeup artist saw how fast donations were coming in after it made the news and thought…why not try for more? And even more? And now Kylie looks like a cheapskate for donating when it was only at 10k.
Sorry for the long post but it’s hard to see people piling on someone who was trying to do a good thing, without looking into the background of the story first.
If Rauda has traumatic brain injury (TBI), that means a long rehab and possibly lifetime care. I’ve seen it before: The family is completely clueless at first about what TBI entails. They’re very chipper and optimistic that the person will “bounce right back.” When that doesn’t happen and the medical team bring them down to earth, only then do they start to realize the long-haul challenges and expenses that await them. I can envision a scenario where the GoFundMe was started with the idea that they’d only have to pay off deductibles and other incidentals; then, as they learned from the medical team about the ongoing care Rauda will need, they upped the totals. If he winds up requiring lifetime care, that can easily run into the million$$$, which makes Kylie’s donation seem even punier in perspective.
Lastly, I wish the Kardashians/Jenners would quit cosplaying WOC. That makeup in the header photo is several shades darker than Kylie’s natural skin tone. It’s offensive.
Exactly, iconolcast59. If someone has a traumatic brain injury, they need to not only survive the immediate danger of the injury, but may also need extensive care for months and years afterward.
They spend hundreds of thousands on their children’s birthday parties, correct? She should have donated at least 10% or just kept her mouth shut (not tell others to donate).
On the other hand, when you’re well known for having plenty of money, you’ll be attracting a lot of people who think you should be paying for everything.
But again, these people are useless and encouraging massive over-consumption. Where would they be without social media platforms, plastic surgery, and makeup/fashion advertising? But Sephora and co thank them for their “hard work.”
They make me sick
I just wonder if part of her posting it to her social media as opposed to just paying the whole bill herself was so she could get a little ego boost off of her fans doing something that she asked them to do. Especially when she knows that most of her fans are likely teenagers and young 20-somethings who probably don’t all have a ton of money and probably don’t donate like this regularly. So the narcissistic hit is higher because she’s getting people who wouldn’t usually spend their money like this to spend it on something that she told them to spend it on. When she looks at how many of her fans donated in such a short amount of time and sees the donation amount climbing quickly, that makes her feel good about herself. All these people are doing that “for her.” It’s like a different version of getting a bunch of likes and comments on a picture, but it means more because it’s harder than just clicking the like button: her fans had to actually follow the link that she asked them to, decide they could part with some money and that they want to support this particular person because Kylie asked them to, put in all their credit card info or ask their parents if they can use their card, etc. If she had just had paid the total bill herself and posted about how she did that, people would like that post and tell her how good and sweet and kind she is, but that’s not the same amount of ego boosting as seeing people actually going through the whole process of spending their money on a thing that you asked them to spend their money on and inferring that they’re doing it because they want to please you, and show how much they trust your opinion and value your suggestions, and want to do the same things you’re doing because YOU are doing them.
Celebrities have normalized it among themselves that promoting something is their “charitable contribution” so they get the good will and keep their wallets closed. Rosie very well pointed out that the celebrities love to be on TV pretend answering the phone for telethons. But not one donate themselves to the charity. She thought they would have to give a minimum to even get on the phone bank shots.
It’s nice to see them finally called out on their bullshit.