Cancer Charity Returns Thousands in Donations from People Spreading Stolen Celebrity Photos
This weekend, Reddit became the center of a storm over the stolen photographs of several well-known celebrities. One particularly strange, and frankly creepy, subreddit became a hub for collecting and sharing all the known photographs of Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, Victoria Justice, and other celebrities. Lawrence's representatives called the incident "a flagrant violation of privacy."
At one point, a group of Redditors on that forum decided that as a show of support — or perhaps as an effort to absolve themselves of their role in the case — users should donate to a charity "in honor" of Jennifer Lawrence. The Redditors who started the effort claimed that Lawrence was a supporter of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, but that is not the case. That was another crude joke.
Despite the attempted humor, by late Monday night, the herd of privacy invaders had raised about $10,000 for the Foundation. The Wire reached out to PCF to ask what their plans for the funds and spokesperson Alexandra Schwertfeger offered this statement:
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A post appeared on Reddit late Monday afternoon, September 1, 2014. A Reddit user directed other Reddit users to make a donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation without the Foundation’s knowledge. We would never condone raising funds for cancer research in this manner. Out of respect for everyone involved and in keeping with our own standards, we are returning all donations that resulted from this post."
The Redditors are undeterred. They have now decided to donate to Give Water, with a lofty goal of $10,000. Thus far, they have raised almost $1,000. The Wire has reached out to Give Water for comment, but has not yet received a response.
This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/09/cancer-charity-returns-thousands-in-donations-from-redditors-spreading-stolen-celebrity-photos/379509/
