This week’s Wanker has won the gold award for extreme wankery.
GoFundMe in Australia accepted Israel Folou’s fundraising page and happily watched the support pour in to assist him with his legal battle.
Then when the funds were at around the $600,000 point the media pounced and created negative coverage. Here in New Zealand GiveALittle claimed that they were too virtuous to allow Israel Folau to fundraise on their page even though he had never asked to. They wanted to make sure that they got credit for a hypothetical situation.
At this point Australia’s GoFundMe turned into GoFU, removing Israel’s page and sending all the donated money back to those who wanted it to go to help Folau.
I think that is gold plated Wankery of the highest order.
GoFundMe has removed Israel Folau’s fundraising page from its website and is issuing refunds to all his donors, saying the campaign breached its terms of service.
“Today we will be closing Israel Folau’s campaign and issuing full refunds to all donors. After a routine period of evaluation, we have concluded that this campaign violates our terms of service,” said Nicola Britton, GoFundMe’s Australia Regional Manager.
“As a company, we are absolutely committed to the fight for equality for LGBTIQ people and fostering an environment of inclusivity. While we welcome GoFundMe’s engaging in diverse civil debate, we do not tolerate the promotion of discrimination or exclusion.
[…] “Our platform exists to help people help others. Australians have shown themselves to be among the most kind and generous people in the world. We look forward to helping more Australians fundraise for causes they care about in the coming months and years.”
According to the terms and conditions on the website, users may not attempt to raise money “for the legal defence of … intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases”.
[…] When news.com.au last viewed Folau’s page this morning, Australians had given him more than $760,000. That was before GoFundMe removed it.
A Newspaper
https://www.thebfd.co.nz/2019/06/nz-givealittle-dont-care-if-youre-broke-as-long-as-youre-woke/
