Alyssa Milano Says Trolls Are Harassing Her 12-Year-Old Son After She Asked for Donations to His Baseball Team
Last week, Milano asked her followers to donate to her kid’s baseball team and was brutally trolled for it. It looks like this controversy isn’t over yet...
There are a lot of things I advise celebrities not to do, like fight with haters in comment sections or post insane Notes app apologies that just make everything worse. Another questionable thing, no matter their intentions, is to post GoFundMe’s on social media, because—again, regardless of their intentions—a bunch of people are going to berate them for being rich and not just paying for whatever they’re asking us to pay for, and then that becomes the story. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, just that it’s guaranteed to happen!!
Last week, Alyssa Milano got an ear-full from social media users for sharing a GoFundMe page for her 12-year-old son’s baseball team to cover expenses for the season. Many called the move tone-deaf, some donated and yelled at the people calling it tone-deaf, and through it all, we’ve heard from Milano about how she has actually not done anything wrong. And now, in a Thursday Instagram post a full week after she posted the GoFundMe, Milano shared that trolls have been targeting her son online over her call for donations.
Milano posted screenshots of comments her son received on his Instagram, including one comment calling her “ridiculous” and “selfish,” and referencing her “$10 million net worth,” and another saying Milano “clearly has the funds to have donated the $10k herself.” In response, her son replied, “Please get off my page. I’m only 12,” and, “You do realize I’m only 12 and I love my mom. My mom is the greatest human of all time. She does everything for everyone.”
“Every parent raises money for their child’s sports teams and many of them do so through GoFundMe. I am no different. As much as I’d love to pay for the entire team and their families for travel, transportation, hotel, food and beverage, uniforms, trading pins and all the things teams do for this kind of trip—I can not afford to do so,” Milano wrote in the caption of her post. She continued, “Also, if I did pay for everyone—my trolls would find something else to be hurtful about.” Milano called the comments “horrid,” then asked her followers to “leave the kids alone. Let them play baseball. If you are against donating—don’t donate. If you’d like to donate to help the team’s families—we appreciate it—the link is in his bio.”
In Milano’s original post asking people to donate to her son’s team, she wrote that “any amount would be so greatly appreciated” to help with the costs of the team’s upcoming travel. When the post stirred up predictable, needless controversy last week, Milano clarified that she’s “paid for uniforms for the entire team and coaches, thrown bday parties and sponsor any kid who can’t afford monthly dues.”
Look, I have no idea what the financial circumstances of Milano’s son’s baseball team are, and because I have friends and a life and am a decently well-adjusted adult, I don’t have any desire to investigate. I can get why a multi-millionaire celebrity asking us for donations online could inspire some eyerolls. Sure! But, sorry, I can’t get commenting on a clueless 12-year-old’s Instagram page for any reason ever!!!
I hope the internet moves past this entire, unnecessary controversy very, very soon (perhaps Milano ceasing to post about it could be helpful), and I hope the best for the team!!! You’ll be happy to know that, upon perusing the comment sections of some of Milano’s son’s IG posts, nearly all the comments I saw were positive and supportive and appropriate for a 12-year-old to receive. So, cool!!
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