The Rock’s High-Road Contrition

Sometimes people expect an apology when your behavior has been positive and helpful. Whether you give one or not is a matter of internal debate.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson decided to do just that — give the gift of his remorse — for his well-meaning intentions and work that somehow did not meet the public standard — the critic’s standard — of expectation.

The backstory: Oprah Winfrey and Johnson (both pictured above) received a heavy dose of criticism and derision for asking the public to donate to a Maui wildlife recovery fund.

In August, Johnson and Winfrey communicated to the public in a video on Instagram that they had created the People’s Fund of Maui, telling viewers that the pair each contributed $5 million to jumpstart the campaign. People who lost their primary homes in the Lahaina and Kula fires were eligible to receive $1200 a month from their fund.

Critics felt that the billionaire Winfrey and extremely wealthy Johnson were in the wrong for asking other people for money when they themselves could easily finance victims’ losses and help people who had lost so much in the fires.

Johnson felt compelled to apologize, Alli Rosenbloom reported at CNN.

“When we first launched the fund, there was some backlash,” he said in a video on his Instagram page, adding, “I get it and I completely understand, and I could’ve been better. And next time I will be better.”

He explained why what he said could be upsetting, noting, “money ain’t falling out of the sky and it’s not growing on trees and there’s a lot of people out there who’s living paycheck to paycheck. And I get it and I know what that’s like.”

He continued: “The last thing you want to hear when you are living from paycheck to paycheck is someone asking you for money, especially when the person asking you for money already has a lot of money,” he said.

Was it necessary for Johnson to come forward and admit a shortcoming? Probably not. Yet his image was important to him and he appeared to decide that it was of lower cost to him to fall on the sword, figuratively speaking, and express remorse and understanding rather than shake his head and ignore the anger.

Johnson certainly recognized the lack of appreciation for his heart and effort to involve himself in raising money to help those in need and chose not to speak of it defensively when he addressed what critics determined was his error.

As the saying goes, he valued the relationship (with the public) more than being “right.”