Brandon Bug Hall says he will keep donations above $2,000 GoFundMe goal

Brandon “Bug” Hall, the former child actor who played Alfalfa in The Little Rascals (1994), said he will not return the money raised above the US$ 2,000 goal of his GoFundMe campaign. He told an entertainment news outlet that he sees the extra donations as a gift from God.

In a post on X, Hall wrote that the lock placed on the fundraiser “is clearly God’s will,” and said he will keep the full amount collected. The statement was published on Monday, November 9, 2026, the same day a report said the payment had been paused for review.

GoFundMe campaign was frozen after mass reports, Hall says

Hall, 41, said he launched the campaign on November 5 to help his family move onto a new property in Arkansas and get through the winter. His wife was expecting the couple’s sixth child, and he said he planned to care for her and the children while she recovered after the birth. Hall said he had disabled the platform’s automatic goal-increase feature and promised to close the campaign once it reached US$ 2,000.

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According to Hall, the campaign was mass-reported for alleged fraud by people who criticized his request for donations, given his vow of poverty. He said GoFundMe locked the fundraiser, so he could neither withdraw the money nor shut it down. “I told everyone that once it reached $2,000, I was going to shut it down,” he said.

Hall said that, shortly before speaking to the outlet, he learned the platform had completed its Trust and Safety investigation, cleared the fundraiser and would transfer the money within two to five days. In the X post, however, he described the payment as paused and said he could not withdraw the funds.

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A GoFundMe spokesperson, quoted in another report, said the team is in contact with the organizer to ensure the funds are delivered quickly and securely. The company has made no other official statement, according to the material reviewed.

GoFundMe donations: the figures reported so far

• US$ 2,000: original goal of the campaign, set when it launched on November 5
• US$ 9,000 from 102 donations: amount reported early in the campaign
• US$ 16,000: amount raised by the Saturday after launch, according to one report
• More than US$ 26,000: total reported by one report, which said donations exceeded that figure
• More than US$ 27,000: total reported by two other reports

The reports disagree on the total. The growth from US$ 9,000 in the first donations to more than US$ 27,000 in the reports is the sharpest rise shown in the coverage, and it is what led Hall to say he never expected an overage. Hall said he never considered the possibility of raising more than he asked for, and that he never promised to return any excess.

Hall on his vow of poverty and paid work

Hall said he had stepped away from work six years before the campaign and had avoided asking for financial help since then. He said he has taken a vow of poverty, which he calls a “lay vow” and not a total renunciation of money. He said he and his family keep their monthly costs at about US$ 300, and that he seeks paid work whenever there is an immediate financial need that cannot be met another way. Critics questioned him for asking for donations while holding that vow.

Another report said Hall was arrested in Ohio earlier this year, and that the arrest came before the campaign. Hall said he plans to keep the donations as a way to return his family to a self-sufficient life sooner, including buying farm animals, a tractor and a sawmill.

Transfer of the donations not yet confirmed

It is not known whether the money has already been transferred to Hall.