Money Slap

"What's the matter, Krabs? Ya' don't like money?!"

"When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 'I have sinned,' he said, 'for I have betrayed innocent blood.'
"'What is that to us?' they replied. 'That's your responsibility.'
"So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself."

— Matthew 27:3-5, The Bible (New International Version)

Everyone needs money, and some of us are lucky enough to have an abundance of money. Of course, money doesn't always buy happiness, and Greed unfortunately can be as common as the currency itself. Things happen and arguments about money can occur. While a screaming match or even Good Old Fisticuffs may take place, often someone may throw a bundle of cash into the face of their opponent as well as either party leaving, either on their own volition or otherwise.

Needless to say, this is a rather disrespectful act. Throwing anything in anyone's face is already rude enough, but having money is considered a status of power, and treating it with such disregard may be considered high treason for some. In some circles, the comparisons between this, Money to Burn, or Burning the Flag has not gone unnoticed.

Compare/contrast with Money Mauling (where the money is used as a weapon/projectile), Money to Throw Away (where someone usually tosses it around in a lighthearted and philanthropic manner), and Glove Slap (which has the same spirit albeit with a glove and usually as a manner to challenge another to a duel). See also Screw the Money, I Have Rules!, Screw the Money, This Is Personal!, Bitch Slap, Food Slap, Produce Pelting, and Shoe Slap which all have similar motivations albeit with varying threatening means or different physical actions/weapons.

Keep in mind that although cash is the most popular variant, loose change or checks/checkbooks can also apply here. Additionally, while this trope is mostly done in anger, there are rare times when throwing money in someone's face can be done in happiness or even delirium, and an extremely rich yet equally generous character may be prone to lobbing cash at random people in an example of this trope without any malice intended. Please remember that even though money flies into the face of another when doing this, it has little to do with "making it rain".

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Carnival Phantasm: In the EX episode, Caren earns a huge sum of money for sorting male and female chicks apart and offers it to Kid Gil and Lancer as alms. Neither of them is interested (especially Kid Gil since he's so rich he isn't kidding when he says he considers Caren's money a small amount), so Caren slaps Lancer with the wad of cash for talking back to her. She ends up taking a bit too much pleasure out of this and slaps Lancer again for personal amusement.
• In Inubaka, Momoko is being financially abused by her model boyfriend, who mooches most of her salary while sleeping around behind her back. The final straw comes when he asks her for 200,000 yen,^note around USD 1400 which he claims to have owed to some Evil Debt Collectors and must pay them back quickly or get killed. With Suguri's encouragement, Momoko finally stands up for herself, and while she does give him the money, she slaps him with the cash as a sign that she's breaking up with him for good.
• K-On!: Played for laughs in the season 2 episode "Clean-up!" when Yui actually fantasizes about having her face slapped by a wad of cash.
• In the Ranma ½ movie "Team Ranma VS The Legendary Phoenix", Kunou slaps a shopkeeper with a wad of bills as he demands the purchase of the titular phoenix's egg. He does this again at the end of it to buy the egg that gets left behind when the phoenix departs.

Comic Books

• Back to the Klondike: In Scrooge's flashback to when he kidnapped Goldie O'Gilt and made her mine gold for him, it's shown that when he paid her for her work, she just threw the coins back at his face.
• Lou!: For the first two volumes, Lou's mother is broke and unable to pay rent. In the third volume, when she finally has her book published, she happily throws a wad of money at her landlady and shouts "Rent!"

Fan Works

• Its All About Respect: To express her contempt for Jesse, Daria shoves a $20 bill into his pants and snaps, "Here's a twenty, go buy a haircut, a shirt, and a vasectomy. That way, you'll be the perfect man."

Films — Live-Action

• In Armageddon, Rockhound and some of the other drillers get into a confrontation at a strip club after Harry convinces Truman to let them out to blow off some steam. One of the other patrons is mad because Rockhound and the others are hogging the action, so Rockhound throws a wad of cash at his chest and tells him to go buy himself a neck. Cue fight, the results of which never present in the movie
• Casino:
  • Nicky and his crew at one point confront a man about a debt. After he threatens him into giving the money he is owed, one of his henchmen literally slaps the man in the head with the money before they depart.
  • In the first scene with Ginger after one of the dealers realizes that she's cheating at a game of poker (she is a hustler, after all), her response is to throw the chips up into the air as the dealer and the other patrons playing lose their crap. It was also at this very moment that she and Ace first noticed each other.
• In Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman, after Charles orders his former wife Helen, who he kicked out of their home to make room for his mistress Brenda and who had snuck in with her grandmother Madea to retrieve some money to live on, to get out or he'll call the police, she calls him out on what a greedy bastard he has become and throws his money back into his face. Madea, being Madea, calls her crazy and tries to pick some of it up as she tells her not to out of principle.
• In Dick Tracy, Big Boy Caprice kidnaps Tracy in order to convince him to secretly join his payroll, and Big Boy entices Tracy with a large stack of bills. Tracy at first acts as though he is going to take the money, but then dramatically throws it into Big Boy's face.
• In The Family That Preys, after social-climbing, career-driven Andrea is punched in the face by her hard-working Henpecked Husband Chris for admitting to a long-standing affair she's had with her arrogant and narcissistic boss William, she tosses some of the money from her purse into his face and orders him to leave their home.
• In Great Balls of Fire! during Jerry Lee Lewis' Sad-Times Montage, he at one point has his manager angrily toss money into his face and orders him to take it and go.
• Let It Shine: During the rap battle between Cyrus and Bling, Bling ends one particularly insulting verse by throwing a stack of cash at Cyrus to hammer in the point that Cyrus isn't as cool or rich as he is, telling him to "buy a better outfit" with it. This tactic backfires, because Cyrus turns the table on him by revealing that Bling isn't rich, but is instead just a low-class cab driver. He offers the thrown money back "as a tip" if he drives them back home.
• The Mask: The Mask enters a nightclub called the Coco Bongo, he was stopped by a security guard. He throws some dollar bills, in which he had stolen from a bank in the last scene, at the guard's face. The Mask enters the Coco Bongo as the customers outside catch the money.
• Moulin Rouge!: In the Show Within a Show's original ending, with the courtesan seemingly choosing the maharajah over him, the sitar player throws money at her and storms off, leading to courtesan changing her mind. The ending is rewritten after the Duke, the show's patron, realizes the love triangle are stand-ins for himself, Satine, and Christian, but ends up playing out when Christian crashes the premiere at the critical moment.
  Christian: This woman is yours now. I have paid my whore. I owe you nothing, and you are nothing to me. Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.
• In The Players Club, when exotic dancer/college student Diana is getting fitted for her graduation cap and gown, some other students begin to gossip about her over her profession which culminates in a random student derisively bringing this up and mockingly tossing dollar bills into her face, which causes her to storm off.
• Towards the end of Titanic (1997), Cal attempts to bribe the First Officer to let him onto a lifeboat in spite of the enforced "Women and Children first" rule. He eventually angrily throws his money back into his face, citing how his wealth cannot save him any more than his own could.

Literature

• According to Tommy Wiseau's backstory in The Disaster Artist, at one point a mysterious wealthy older gentleman had taken him in after a particularly unpleasant run-in with some French cops. The man then offered him a large amount of money if he would give him fellatio. An angered Tommy then tore up the money and threw it into the shocked man's face and then promptly left.
• Dinotopia Lost: When the Condor's crew near-unanimously decide to become citizens of Dinotopia instead of continuing as pirates, Captain Blackstrap contemptuously throws a handful of gems in their faces before leaving. (One tries to make a grab for the jewels, but the first mate restrains him in the interests of dignity.)
• Fridthjof's Saga: When Fridthjof returns to Sogn after collecting the tribute from Orkney for the kings Helgi and Halfdan, he finds that the kings have backstabbed him and plundered and burned down his family farm. Fridthjof and his men make for the temple where the kings are just sacrificing; Fridthjof goes up to Helgi and with the words "You'll want to have your tribute now" slams the heavy bag of silver containing the tribute into Helgi's face "so that two teeth were knocked out of Helgi's mouth" and Helgi is knocked unconscious.
• The Rising of the Shield Hero: After realizing Malty concocted a False Rape Accusation situation to rob him of his belongings and reputation, Naofumi angrily throws his remaining silver coins, which he stored in his shield the following night, at their feet in retaliation for their betrayal.
• The Saga of Gisli Sursson: After failing once again to track Gisli in the wild, Eyjolf goes to Gisli's wife Aud and offers the three hundred marks of silver he has been paid in advance for bringing in Gisli's head, if she will reveal Gisli's whereabouts to him. He also promises her that she will not have to be present when her husband is killed, and that he will arrange a new marriage to a wealthy man for her. Aud acts like she is inclined to accept the deal and asks Eyjolf to count out the silver for her; this done, she asks Eyjolf whether she "might do as she wished" with this money, and Eyjolf gladly affirms this. Aud then fills the silver into a large purse, stands up and smashes the purse into Eyjolf's face so that "blood spurted all over him".

Live-Action TV

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy offered to pay Spike for advice on killing Slayers to better protect herself. After he turns his combat advice into a romantic pass she knocks him to the ground and throws the money at him as a parting insult.
• Cobra Kai: Johnny's stepfather Sid Weinberg gives him a check for an apparently hefty amount to "buy you out of my life" in the first episode. Johnny initially throws it in the garbage, but then uses it to re-establish the Cobra Kai karate dojo as his own business. Later, after he's got a full school of students, he's making enough money that he's able to go back to Sid and sardonically pay him back the value of the check.
  Johnny: "I never needed your money; it was just the only thing you ever had to give. Goodbye, Sid."
• There's a hand-written check variation in CSI: NY. A greedy real estate developer becomes a murder suspect in "Sláinte" when Sid discovers his signature on the victim's face. He's then shown in flashback taunting the man, a small bodega owner, with a sizable check and literally rubbing it on his face while trying to get the man to sell him his property.
• In the TV movie Hunger Point, protagonist Frannie (Christina Hendricks) is working as a waitress at the end of her shift when a couple is involved in a messy breakup. When she politely asks the man to pay his bill, citing that they could stay as long as they like but she cannot leave until they do, he angrily pulls out his wallet and dismissively throws a large bill at her. At this, she loses her previous demeanor, tells the upset woman "He's a loser; let his wife have him" and (accidentally) backhands a glass of red wine onto him, which gets her fired. Surprisingly in an about-face, the woman was a party-planner who eventually met up with Frannie and offered her a job and thanked her for defending her that night and making her leave the relationship that very night.
• Discussed on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in their 2016 segment on Donald Trump, as John noted that Trump's very name sounded appealing to some people, saying "It's almost onomatopoeic. 'Trump!' It's the sound produced when a mouthy servant is slapped across the face with a wad of $1,000 bills. 'Trump!'".
• Mad Men: When Peggy quits, Don thinks that she's asking for a raise and furiously throws money in her face.
• The opening credits of Win Ben Stein's Money has a brief sequence where Ben has wads of cash blowing in his face via a wind machine.

Mythology & Religion

• The Bible: In Matthew 27:1-10, Judas Iscariot has a My God, What Have I Done? moment over betraying Jesus to the Temple authorities and tries to return the thirty pieces of silver they paid him. The priests refuse, but he throws the money into the temple anyway and commits suicide. Under the circumstances, religious law forbids the priests to put the coins back into the temple coffers, so they use it to purchase a potter's field which, according to later traditions, they used as a cemetery.

Video Games

• PAYDAY 2 allows players to use the Money Bundle as a melee weapon after hitting level 7. It's a $10,000 stack of $100 bills that does more damage with rapid attacks than charged attacks. Equipping Kickstarter allows players to employ Percussive Maintenance on the Drill with any melee weapon, including the Money Bundle.
• Like a Dragon:
  • Yakuza 0: Oda throws six million yen at a bar owner's face, after he refused to accept it in exchange for handing over his property to Tachibana Real Estate.
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon: Progressing through the business management side-story gives Ichiban a few attacks consisting of him slapping the enemies with increasingly-larger wads of banknotes.

Web Animation

• In hololive, Kureiji Ollie puts out a tweet asking if the rest of Hololive would hit her for 1 million dollars. Aragami Oga, however, takes the question literally and makes a doodle of himself slapping Ollie with a wad of money.
• An animation by Pringus McDingus has a sales tech power up Samantha Samsung to help behind the counter. Sam asks "What is my purpose?" to which the answer is "Sell the phones." Sam notices a customer at the counter and gives him a Samsung phone. The customer simply throws a fistful of cash into Sam's face, then leaves. Sam doesn't seem too insulted by this, likely because she's a robot.

Western Animation

• There was an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head where the boys found a bag of photography equipment. After taking a few inappropriate photos of themselves, they returned the equipment to the owner and asked for a reward. The owner was miffed they would blatantly ask for money and threw some bills at them in contempt. The boys collected the dropped money, too stupid to be offended.
• Big City Greens: In the episode "Bad Influencer", goons working for obnoxious influencer Itchaboi attack Vasquez with money. "Cash slap! Cash slap!"
• At the end of Mickey's Christmas Carol, a newly-reformed Scrooge joyfully dumps several shillings onto Mole's head. When he and his similarly shocked partner Rat protest the unexpected donation, he ups the ante by throwing even more bags at them.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish", Mr. Burns tries to bribe a health inspector by leaving him in the room with several bundles of cash. When he and Smithers return after a brief time and realize that he didn't bother touching any of it, the former then begins to desperately throw it at him in addition to shoving some of the money into his pockets and calling him a "poor schmoe".
  • Subverted in "A Streetcar Named Marge": when Homer keeps pestering Marge for change for a nearby candy machine during her rehearsal for a play, her frustrated teacher finally yells out, "Oh, here!" and throws a pocketful of change at his feet to get him to stop.
  • In another episode, Burns grouses to Smithers that they should prepare for a lean year, at which point they break into smiles and start a play fight with wads of cash.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In "Can You Spare a Dime?", after SpongeBob confronts Mr. Krabs about his lost "first dime" (which he believed Squidward had stolen, causing him to quit and driving the yellow sponge crazy after he takes him in), he soon angrily tosses a collection of dimes into his boss' face. Said "dime", which looks more like the first wheel invented, is eventually discovered in Mr. Krabs' pants pocket.
    SpongeBob: You want your dime back?! Take it! Now, Squidward can come back, right?!
    Mr. Krabs: (looks closely at it) Wrong! That ain't me first dime.
    SpongeBob: Then, have some more dimes! I've got plenty of 'em!
  • In "ChefBob", when SpongeBob's living Hand Puppet ChefBob requests bigger accommodations from Mr. Krabs, he refuses to grant them, causing ChefBob to pull out a wad of $100 bills and slap Mr. Krabs across the face with them.
    ChefBob: What's the matter, Krabs? (flicks Mr. Krabs' nose) Ya' don't like money?! (slaps Mr. Krabs with wad of cash)
    Mr. Krabs: (on the verge of tears) What? ...Of course I like money!

Real Life

• According to the police report, the 1999 night club shooting that Sean "Puffy" Combs was involved in^note albeit it was a member of his entourage, the former Jamal "Shyne" Barrow (now going by the first name of Moses), who ended up shooting some patrons started with an argument where another clubgoer threw money into his face causing the situation to escalate.
• As measure against the spread of COVID-19, Canadian strip clubs were mandated to maintain a two-meter separation between the dancers and the patrons. However, the dancers receive the bulk of their income from gratuities, normally inserted into their minimal outfits. Since folding money doesn't travel well through air, patrons developed the "loony lob," tossing Canadian dollar coins (which have a loon on their obverse side) at the dancers. The result was similar to stoning trollops, but non-lethal and done by horny clowns — for rather obvious reasons, getting pelted by stray coins hurts quite a lot more than being subjected to flying polymer notes. Thus, the loony lob damaged the profession until the mandate was repealed.
• Throwing money as a means of protest or satire has been recorded a couple of times in history where corruption arises. As an example, just prior to the resignation of FIFA President Sepp Blatter in 2015 over the bribery and corruption scandal stemming from the bidding of the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup one comedian managed to sneak into the room where he was giving a press conference, get up close, and threw some cash at him before security intervened.

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