‘BIG Brother” winner Adam Jasinski is promising to donate $100,000 of his half-million-dollar prize to the Florida-based United Autism Foundation, which fired him while he was competing.
Jasinski, 29, whose “BB9” bio says he worked as a public-relations manager for the foundation, was canned last February after he was heard on “BB9” referring to autistic children as “retards.”
Since he was sequestered in the “BB9” house, Jasinski had no idea he’d been axed. He made the pledge after winning the competition at the end of Sunday night’s live broadcast.
Jasinski issued a statement late yesterday saying he still wanted to make a donation – but to some other, as-yet-unnamed charity.
“When I talked about making a donation on the ‘Big Brother 9’ finale . . . I was unaware of any controversy about my prior remarks or that my job was in jeopardy,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Jasinski’s ex-boss, Olaf Hampel, told The Post he’d be happy to accept the donation. “At this point, it is important to me that Adam makes a public apology about his comments and clears my name as well as the name of the foundation,” Hampel wrote in an e-mail.
“It would be awesome if Adam is keeping his official promise and will donate the mentioned $100,000 since we can do some great things with the funds.”