DETROIT, MI -- A group of satirists who produced some popular videos in recent weeks, bringing some humor to Detroit's recovery efforts, is cancelling its online fundraising campaign after a contribution from a single donor.
Their goal was to raise $15,0000 to start a Detroit-based comedy series and with only one day left in the Kickstarter campaign, less than $2,000 had been donated.
But an anonymous donor has stepped up to fund the first two stages of the project, said filmmaker Oren Goldenberg in a news release.
"With only one day left to go, our team at Save Detroit Think Tank has decided to cancel our Kickstarter campaign to save the city, in an effort to avoid any fu rther humiliation for our wondrous city," he said. "We raised a lot of money, but were still short of our goal, which isn’t bad when you think that most people who saw the video couldn't figure out what was going on."
Goldenberg is known for serious documentaries about Detroit, but has been getting national attention for the comedic Youtube videos under the project name Detroit (Blank) City.
The effort was introduced last month with a popular video featuring an enthusiastic, straight-faced young woman pitching a fake campaign to raise $500 million in donations to save the city.
And this week, another Youtube video popped up that appeared to show a governor's spokesperson in what appeared to be a WDIV broadcast announcing an emergency manager for Detroit: RoboCop.
"Don’t sweat Detroit," Goldenberg said about cancelling the Kickstarter effort. "We still plan on saving you. Luckily, for us, and all of Southeastern Michigan, a private, anonymous donor has stepped up to fund the first two stages in saving our dear and disorderly city.
"... We know we said we would quit our efforts if we didn't raise our goal, but we were lying. We're never going to stop. Never."
Follow Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.