The Jenners and the Kardashians are quite wealthy thanks to some savvy pop culture moves. The combination of Kim, Khloe, Kris, Kourtney and Rob Kardashian with Kendall and Kylie Jenner were worth just over an estimated $2 billion.
Kylie Jenner, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who founded Kylie Cosmetics, is reportedly worth just under $900 million all by herself.
Why is this relevant?
In the case of Kylie Jenner's friend and sometimes employee Samuel Rauda, the money is relevant.
Rauda, a makeup artist, was involved in a serious accident that left him in need of surgery. Jenner re-posted a GoFundMe page for Rauda, set up by his family, asking people to donate to it via her Instagram story.
Jenner ultimately donated $5,000 to Rauda's fund. The goal was $60,000.
Both sums are a mere fraction of Jenner's overall wealth.
Kylie Jenner sparks fury by asking fans to help raise $60,000 for her friend Samuel Rauda’s surgery after donating… https://t.co/nTksAvK9d7— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1616341241.0
Jenner's unspoken refusal to cover the entire cost of the surgery drew sharp criticism from across the internet.
kylie jenner: $60k for a $60k for a friends life designer bag https://t.co/jibLYhTXwZ— Nicole Perez (@Nicole Perez) 1616432403.0
me when I see ppl defending Kylie Jenner and her gofundme https://t.co/KylH2JHOqY— 💜cindy ♡ ‘s choso💜 (@💜cindy ♡ ‘s choso💜) 1616426565.0
Kylie Jenner has pleaded for people to donate to her friend's GoFundMe for medical care. During the time it took he… https://t.co/ugijLUFXsm— 22Minutes (@22Minutes) 1616429814.0
Kylie Jenner asking regular folk to donate to a GoFundMe. https://t.co/h0fVz7vGmj— Check (@Check) 1616433779.0
Kylie Jenner rn after thinking she was doing a good deed: #KylieJenner https://t.co/b4LUxExRcg— Mamba Out ✌🏾✌🏾 (@Mamba Out ✌🏾✌🏾) 1616379203.0
The Kylie Jenner situation looks even worse when you consider that Lady Gaga just paid her dog walker’s medical bil… https://t.co/4xsiseIHxC— Ann Marie Lastrassi stan (@Ann Marie Lastrassi stan) 1616420856.0
Kylie Jenner is the type of person that asks you for gum when they have gum— Tank.Sinatra (@Tank.Sinatra) 1616378096.0
Kylie Jenner: “Hey, guys. I started a GoFundMe account for...“ Twitter: https://t.co/nGa4apkHvG— Jermaine (@Jermaine) 1616325990.0
Kylie Jenner: “I’m a self made billionaire” *makeup artist needs help Kylie Jenner: https://t.co/BDBLkrUgDC— M. Scarn (@M. Scarn) 1616335558.0
Asking her fans and followers for this, most of whom are middle to lower income young people, rather than asking her affluent family and friends also drew disdain.
@Whxtevxrr People who defending kylie jenner in this comment section be like: https://t.co/ioSZmVTwVM— 𝕽𝖚𝖋𝖆𝖎🇧🇩 (@𝕽𝖚𝖋𝖆𝖎🇧🇩) 1616310316.0
Kylie Jenner, net worth 900M, is doing a GoFundMe (60K) for her stylists emergency surgery after a road wreck, and… https://t.co/xfcYMKkY37— Thia is with... 😏✌️💋🔥 (@Thia is with... 😏✌️💋🔥) 1616337012.0
Kylie Jenner will dead blow 50k on a Hermès bag but not on her friends brain surgery who got in a car accident whic… https://t.co/tCHVnW8Kg5— ℓᵃ ℳᵅɕς (@ℓᵃ ℳᵅɕς) 1616293113.0
kylie jenner promoting her friend’s gfm and only donating $5k when shes a whole billionaire and can easily help her… https://t.co/hlmwk2kyNV— ☆ (@☆) 1616217687.0
While few celebrities have enough liquid capital to address every need they see in the world, Rauda's role as a personal friend and occasional employee of Jenner put him in a different status than celebrities who help raise funds for strangers or charitable organizations.
Jenner has as yet not responded to the controversy.
The concept of crowdfunding lifesaving, necessary healthcare is largely isolated to the United States among first-world nations. The one thing many of those condemning Jenner haven't addressed is if those with the highest levels of wealth paid taxes just equal to the percentage paid by the middle class, the United States could afford universal healthcare for everyone.