Navarone Garibaldi Garcia, son of Priscilla Presley, has mounted a vigorous defense of his crowdfunding campaign to establish a pizza business, addressing criticism about seeking public donations despite his family connections.
Garcia, 39, took to Instagram on Friday, July 10, to respond to detractors questioning why he would not simply request financial assistance from his mother. The post revealed both frustration with critics and a detailed explanation of his financial philosophy.
"Haters gonna hate… and I'm sure I'll have to explain this many more times to ignorant people who think I should 'ask my mom' or that I have money….." Garcia wrote in the Instagram post. "YEAH, I also have a lot of bills, I also have a budget, I also donate to other causes… I also give to the homeless… I just don't film and put it on YouTube… but, I also have crazy ADD and try to do lots of things… if I just went all in every time I thought I had a great idea… I'd be broke in 2 days."
The entrepreneur emphasized that his fundraising approach includes reciprocal benefits for donors. "I'm not asking anything to donate that can't afford to, I'm offering free pizza to people that donate… and I'm putting in a lot of my own money to buy this oven. Just asking for help on the remaining bit that's out of my budget. That's all. Love and Peace, Kindness and pizza. The link is in all my stories if you want to help out," he continued.
In a video accompanying the written statement, Garcia provided specific financial details about the venture. He disclosed that he has already set aside three thousand dollars toward the project, with total costs estimated at approximately eighty-five hundred dollars including setup and delivery. The GoFundMe campaign seeks to raise the remaining fifty-five hundred dollars.
The fundraising page outlines Garcia's vision for an affordable organic pizza operation serving his neighborhood. According to the description, Garcia has long aspired to entrepreneurship but found traditional barriers such as marketing costs and brick-and-mortar expenses prohibitive.
"Now I would like to make and serve affordable organic pizza for my community and sell it from my driveway to the large foot traffic in my neighborhood. I have found a large industrial pizza oven and negotiated it from $14,000 down to $8,500," Garcia wrote in the GoFundMe description. "I have 3,000 saved up for this… and the pizza dough and sauces already sourced. It's just buying the oven that I need to get me started. I would truly appreciate any help."
"She loves the idea but I can't ask for money for every whimsical idea I have or we both would be broke!" Garcia told TMZ in an interview published on Saturday, July 11, addressing the question of why he chose not to seek financial support from his mother.
Garcia returned to Instagram on Sunday, July 12, to report progress on the fundraising effort. In his Instagram Story, he acknowledged the ongoing criticism while defending the reciprocal nature of his campaign.
"Now I feel like I have to explain economics to all these people that biasedly hate me," he stated. "But, you know, those people donate $20, they can come get free pizza anytime now. I'm trying to help out and get a little help in return. And people hate me for it. It's sad."
Priscilla Presley welcomed Navarone Garibaldi Garcia in 1987 during a long-term relationship with Marco Garibaldi, which ended in 2006. She is also the mother of Lisa Marie Presley, whom she welcomed in 1968 with late ex-husband Elvis Presley. Lisa Marie died in 2023 at age 54.
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Ava Hart
Ava Hart is a pop culture junkie and loves to share what's happening in Hollywood and what trends are taking the world by storm.
