Reddit users raised more than $5,000 yesterday for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, only to have the donation denied. The money was raised by users on the subdomain r/TheFappening, which on August 31 published more than 100 nude photos of celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and Kirsten Dunst. These photos were hacked off of their iCloud accounts without their permission.
The joke, if you can call it that, was built off a myth that masturbation may ward off prostate cancer. Thus, by donating to the charity, the men joked that they were atoning for their behavior. They weren't.
Yesterday, "The Fappening" was the leading donor to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF).
A screenshot published by users at Reddit's the Fappening showing their success (h/t the Verge)
Let's by crystal clear here: These men — who celebrated the invasion of women's privacy by circulating stolen nude photos of celebrities on the internet, thus contributing to the systematic oppression of women and their rights — donated money to a charity that can literally only help men. Haha. Isn't that funny!?
It's not to the PCF, which refused to accept the donation in a statement posted on its website Tuesday evening.
The PCF responds to The Fappening (screenshot)
"Fuck them if they don't want our donations. Lets donate to somewhere else who actually wants to help their cause," A redditor wrote on The Fappening. "Charity is charity. It is not like our money was acquired directly from any illegal profits."
But money given to a cause out of implicit spite for 50 percent of the population as a joke about jacking-off isn't charity at all — it's hate money. Some Redditors seemed to understand this saying, "Guys we're literally worse than cancer."
Reddit responds to having its sticky money rejected by the Prostate Cancer Foundation: pic.twitter.com/tmvI1QUPJV
— Neetzan Zimmerman (@neetzan) September 2, 2014
And the PCF seems to understand that, acting as a small light of decency in a situation that has otherwise brought out the worst in a whole lot of people.