The Rock Rips Clickbait Reporter After False Maui Narrative Goes Viral

The Rock is telling a reporter to ‘know your role, and shut your mouth,’ after criticism has been piling up on the famed celebrity regarding his response to last year's devastating Maui, Hawaii wildfires.

On Friday, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson appeared in Las Vegas for the WrestleMania 40 press conference when suddenly he was greeted by a ton of boos. As I've reported, The Rock was facing criticism from diehard wrestling fans after the wrestler-turned-celebrity came back into the WWE and took over a Championship contender spot from fan favorite Cody Rhodes.

During the live segment, some fans began chanting "Cody, Cody, Cody" while Johnson was talking. However, reporter Nick Sortor claimed they were chanting "Maui, Maui, Maui" which rhymes but obviously is something completely different. Sortor's claim soon went viral with tens of millions of plays of the video and his incorrect narrative, and the former WWE champion was not pleased.

You can hear the ‘Cody’ chants as well as The Rock's response here:

THE ROCK LAID THE SMACK DOWN ON THE REPORTER

"I typically refrain from responding to toxic, false clickbait garbage like this because I hate dignifying bull**** with a response, but when you use Hawaii’s tragic events to draw attention to yourself, I won’t stay quiet," the 51-year-old superstar began.

"Nick, instead of posting bull**** like this that you know is false - I encourage you to post something positive for Hawaii, for our Polynesian American people. Or actually take positive action and come to Hawaii to help out in an uplifting way."

Johnson went on to inform everyone that the People's Fund of Maui has delivered over $50 million of charity so far to those in need. 

You can be sure that Nick indeed smells what The Rock is cooking after that callout.

The Rock responds to a false tweet regarding a live crowd's reaction to him and Maui, Hawaii.

(X: "The Rock")

WHY SOME BELIEVE MAUI VICTIMS ARE MAD AT ROCK

Although Sortor was completely wrong and should have done due diligence, his assumption that it was about Maui wasn't entirely out of nowhere.

Last year, Johnson and other celebrities like Oprah Winfrey were criticized for asking for donations to help the rebuilding process after the devastating wildfires, despite Johnson being worth hundreds of millions of dollars. At the time, Rock said he gets why people were mad at him.

REPORTER MADE UP SOMETHING COMPLETELY FALSE

As anyone who routinely deals with social media understands, once a story is out there it's extremely hard to get a correction. Rarely do people actually see the clarification from a false story and instead the rumor spreads.

Fortunately for The Rock, he has 17.1 MILLION followers, so I'm sure he'll be alright with saving his name. 

READ: IT'S TIME TO ASK WHY MAUI OFFICIALS SCREWED UP THE WILDFIRE RESPONSE SO BADLY

After Johnson called out Sortor , the journalist acknowledged that he may have gotten it wrong - but yet, still kept the post up which many people believe is a lame way to keep getting clickbait hits on it.

"Obviously, the claim made in this post has been disputed by the Rock himself, which seems to have some validity. I’m leaving this post up simply to provide context to the ongoing dispute between the two of us regarding funding for Maui. I’m willing to hear the Rock out, and I’m hoping we can work together to force the government to actually provide meaningful aid to these victims," Sortor tweeted.

The Rock is already getting plenty of hate from wrestling fans as he has now turned full heel in the lead up to WrestleMania. There's no need to make something up, so he gets even more criticism, especially when it's not true.