Planned Parenthood Rejects $500,000 Donation from Shock Author Tucker Max

Tucker Max has made his name through what many would consider "offensive" humor.  The author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, he says on his website:

My name is Tucker Max, and I am an a--hole.

I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging d---head.

So perhaps it is understandable that Planned Parenthood rejected his offer of $500,000.

Looking for a way to reduce his tax burden through a large charitable contribution, Max says he settled on Planned Parenthood.  “They really did help me and my girlfriend when I was poor, I really do believe in their mission, and if this money doesn’t go to them it goes to the government anyway," he remarked.

After exchanging calls and emails with a Planned Parenthood VP and setting up a lunch with the organization's CEO, Max's representative was supposedly en route to Dallas to make the donation when the organization called to cancel.

Ryan Holiday, an adviser to the author, relayed part of the conversation:

PP: “I guess it’s the way you write about women.”

Tucker: “What do you mean? I’m not negative towards women in my writing. Women love my writing; more than half my fans are female.”

PP: “Well…there are certain jokes you make we feel can be perceived in a certain negative manner.”

Tucker: “So because I made a fat girl joke you won’t accept a $500,000 donation?”

[...]

PP: “We don’t feel it would be appropriate, given Planned Parenthood’s mission and your body of work, to accept your donation.”

He continued:

Planned Parenthood’s “mission” is to help women get access to reproductive services, but they were turning down money intended to do precisely that. How could someone trying to give a half million dollars to a women’s health clinic be turned away for being anti-woman? A week before Planned Parenthood been “honored to have his support,” now they were slamming the door in his face.

However, altruistic as the offer may seem, Max has publicly insulted Planned Parenthood in the past.  He tweeted in July 2011, "Planned Parenthood would be cooler if it was a giant flight of stairs, w/someone pushing girls down, like a water park slide," and on March 14 wrote, "In South Florida. This place is awful. Shi-ty design, slu-ty wh-res & no culture, like a giant Planned Parenthood waiting room" (note: the March 14 tweet has been deleted).

Though Planned Parenthood says the need for increased funding is "acute," perhaps rejecting Tucker Max's offer was a wise PR move.

The man who "[indulges] every whim" and "ignores the consequences of [his] actions," Max is the embodiment what many attack the organization for.  Who knows how it would be perceived if he was bankrolling one of their clinics!