WHILE thousands of social media users sit in the comfort of their homes laughing to videos featuring comedian Rupert Allen, his real life is one of sufferation.

The 50-year-old Allen, who has a disability, lives in one room with his mother and brother in Kinloss, Trelawny. The three of them sleep on the same bed. They have no kitchen or bathroom and have to utilise nearby bushes to relieve themselves of bodily waste.

On Thursday, Allen was dejected as he told the Jamaica Observer he doesn’t anticipate a good Christmas.

“The condition bad. Mi want a house for myself. Christmas, I not going to do nothing at all. I have no Christmas,” said Allen.

Though his neighbour, Careen Codlyn, has a family of her own to care for, she prides herself in being Allen’s caretaker. She said that people from all over visit Allen to create funny videos starring him and benefit from it financially, while he is left in the cold.

“He is unable to work because he has a disability. He has a small brain. Rupert is in a desperate situation. He needs somewhere to live. His situation is very bad, because Rupert, his mother, and brother sleep on one small bed. The mother and the brother are not working because nobody will employ them. They have to be up and down wondering where their next meal is coming from,” Codlyn told the Observer on Thursday.

“People are using Rupert’s videos and he gets no help. They only come and video and put him up and nobody returns anything to him. Him nuh have the sense to say, ‘Don’t video me.’ People build their pages off of Rupert. If I don’t stretch my hands to Rupert him don’t eat. I manage to do that because I work and I believe that you must give of the little that you have,” Codlyn added.

She said she badly wants to see Allen and his family live better lives and rise above the discrimination that is meted out to them in their community.

“I want Rupert to live comfortable. He is not sleeping well. Him love me, ennuh, because when everybody discriminate against him, mi mek him feel like somebody and mi nuh scorn or discriminate against him. Mi have a determination to see him get help. An organisation came and dug a foundation for two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom but nothing more [has happened]. The organisation seh the distance to the community is too far so they gave up,” Codlyn claimed.

The crowdfunding platform, realhelpinghands.com has started a campaign for Allen.

The aim is to raise money to build him a comfortable house with vital amenities.

Chief operations officer of realhelpinghands.com Oliver Toth told the Observer that he is eager to see Allen’s life improve.

According to Toth, the opportunity is there to seek out experts who can guide Allen and Codlyn on how to operate social media and earn money from it.

“I cannot imagine being a grown man living in that kind of deplorable condition. It has got to be extremely tough on your emotional state and so we are really hoping to get him his own room and bathroom so he can stay dignified,” Toth said.

“I understand that on TikTok he is somewhat of a sensation. I am going to go look at that and see if we can make a link wheel. That way we have everything tied together properly. Oftentimes influencers do not get paid the way that people think they get paid. Once I see where the shortcoming is we will be able to monetise him by getting advertisers that are befitting to his brand,” said Toth.

The link to Allen’s crowdfunding page is https://realhelpinghands.com/campaign/rupert-needs-your-help-building-a-house/ .

“The reason we are here is so that we can gather as many people and get a little from them. We are not looking for any one donor to give us a huge amount. We would prefer to have a lot of people give little amounts. We appreciate small sums as much as the big donations,” Toth added.