Ariel Winter’s cousin, Tino Tsutras, was rushed to the hospital last Friday where he was put on life support. It has since been determined that he has Haemophilus Influenzae that they fear has led to meningitis. All of that is sad and frightening as meningitis is both lethal and very difficult to treat. On Monday, Ariel tweeted her affection for Tino with a link to his GoFundMe, asking anyone who could to consider donating:
💔 this is my cousin Tino. If you can, please consider donating to his recovery fund. Anything helps. I love him so much 💔https://t.co/8Sx6R08RAr
— Ariel Winter (@arielwinter1) April 9, 2019
The comments to her tweet were not supportive. Most faulted Ariel for having her hand out when she, according to all these Twitter accountant wannabes, could afford to fund the whole campaign:
No offense but like you obviously have the money if not all of it some of it to help your cousin so why are you asking your fans for the money
— Rebekka Hardin (@RebekkaHardin) April 9, 2019
If you love him so much what's 15 grand to you. Holy shit. Don't shop for one day!
— 🇨🇦Not Playin' Playstation (@FBondurant1972) April 9, 2019
Surely you’re able to throw some if not all of the $15k in.
— Ben (@Ben_fl85) April 9, 2019
Those are three of the first six comments. A few people supported Ariel, but they are most definitely in the minority. Ariel responded angrily to a few of the nasty comments but eventually sent this separate tweet:
I’m shocked at how many people have sent me hate tweets about my cousin instead of a simple, kind message showing him some love and support. Nothing else needed to be done aside from that. I re-posted a gofundme that my cousin’s friend made just as anyone else would. Hurtful.
— Ariel Winter (@arielwinter1) April 9, 2019
There were more supportive comments to this tweet, but many still found it in them to shame Ariel for having asked for donations in the first place. Coincidentally, Ariel’s co-star, Sarah Hyland, met a similar fate when she, too, linked a GoFundMe for her cousin who was killed by a drunk driver:
Yesterday my 14 year old cousin was killed by a drunk driver named Jeffrey Eggerling. My Uncle is in the hospital awaiting more surgeries. PLEASE keep your prayers with my family during this horrific time. And please DONATE https://t.co/mwlaIvUYrs
— Sarah Hyland (@Sarah_Hyland) December 2, 2018
The responses were along the lines of:
Where was Sarah’s donation to this I looked I didn’t see even a ten spot she is fleecing us we all have family who die but My family bands together and things get handled we would never take advantage of other Americans when we have the money to help ourselves shameful
— Donna V. (@Tweet_Hearted) December 3, 2018
Sarah was grieving and simply quit Twitter over the backlash (she’s since come back). Please note that neither Ariel nor Sarah set up these campaigns, they merely shared them. I’ve seen many celebrities forwarding GoFundMe links on social media. As recently as Tuesday, Anthony Mackie tweeted about a campaign for a well-known director who needed help with medical bills and – shockingly – he received much praise for spreading the word. It never bothers me when I see these requests. I figure, if it’s something personal to the celebrity, sharing the information makes them feel like they are doing something to help, just like it would you and me. Fortunately, Ariel and Sarah have each other and both donated to one another’s cousins’ funds as a show of support. I’m sure they’ve done much more for each other by way of comfort offline. I don’t always agree with Ariel lashing out at her detractors but I support her right to do so here.
Photo credit: Twitter and WENN Photos
I understand that celebrities can’t give money to every single family member that they have or else they’d be broke, and I understand that even if we know what someone is paid for episode we don’t know what their take home is or what their expenses are. I sympathize that their family members are going through something, but evenif they didn’t set up the campaign, they’re still spreading it to get their fans to support it and therefore asking for money from their fans. I dunno, I guess if you cover one family member’s medical bills you end up obligated to cover them all?
We don’t know what she did or did not donate outside of the online campaign.
To be fair Anthony Mackie is not related to the director in question whereas both Sarah and Ariel were retweeting Go Fund Me campaigns for relatives. And they could have stated that they themselves donated but were/are asking for additional assistance. Perhaps it is the naivete of youth or the myopia of celebrity but times are hard and many people are struggling to pay their own bills and put food on the table. It’s a bit tone deaf to ask average folks to donate when they could put their hands under their couch cushions to find the money to help their relatives.
Agreed. I remember people ripping on Zayn Malik when he pushed a GoFundMe for a relative as well. It is completely tone deaf, and a little ridiculous to be pushing one to people a lot less well off than you. I don’t expect these celebrities to pay everything themselves, but maybe get your other rich friends to chip in rather than social media.
This is how I feel, also. I realize Ariel and Sarah don’t take home all of their super large salaries, but come on! It reminds me of the time I volunteered to help out at a youth feed program that was set up on the sidewalk in front of a church. It was meant to feed the homeless, and a few people who obviously weren’t homeless would get in line, also. Yeah, Buddy, I realize it’s close to lunch time and you are hungry, but you are taking food out of the mouths of people who may not have had a hot meal in weeks. It used to get me mad, but there was nothing I could do.
This exactly. If it’s YOUR family don’t rely on fans to pay the bills when you’re in such a great position money wise. If you’re making 100k and episode paying those bills, or the vast majority of them is not bad.
And I can’t believe she didn’t expect it to go that way after the backlash Sarah got. It makes them both look SO out of touch.
It can be a great way to spread awareness for a condition/disease/awful situation and as a celebrity I have no problem with people using their platform for that kind of thing. But don’t expect fans to foot the bill of YOUR family member when you’re very wealthy and the cost isn’t excessive.
Agree completely. Well put Renee2.
Agree, asking fans to contribute to a cause is not the same as asking fans to contribute to your family.
No need to be so hateful about it in the tweets, but seriously, it’s $15,000 and the other one was for funeral expenses. If it really is a close family member, quietly “donate” or just pay for it. Don’t ask your fans to donate. These people are among the highest paid in the business. If they don’t have that little on hand from hundreds of thousands of dollars per episode, they’re doing something wrong.
I agreed with EVERY comment above mine. Spread the word about causes and GoFundMes, but not for family. They DO make a lot of money, and $15k is nothing to a celebrity who has been on TV since they were a child, unless your parents were like Gary Coleman’s awful parents. In fairness, Sarah has health issues that are quite expensive and Ariel has her batshit crazy mother to fight in court, so there’s that.
This just seems wrong. If it’s a family member she is close enough with to ask fans to donate, I feel she should cover the relatively minor expense. For reference, she reportedly makes about $100,000 an episode. Same for Sarah’s. I’m sorry for anyone going through such things, but It feels really wrong for them to use their celebrity to ask fans for money.
Mackie’s is different to me if it was not a family member or close friend of his, and if he personally donated and chose to share it.
Can you imagine making $100,000 per episode and then asking your fans to donate. I don’t make $100,000 a year.
Yet another example of why most celebrities need to let professionals handle their social media accounts. It’s all about optics and perception. No they aren’t obligated to support their own family members; but it looks tacky when you a) have the means to do so and don’t but then b) basically outreach to your fans and followers who don’t make the kind of money you do and ask them to donate. Anthony Mackie wasn’t asking people to donate to a member of his family; he linked to a GoFundMe to what essentially mounts to a coworker or industry acquaintance – there’s a difference.
“Yet another example of why most celebrities need to let professionals handle their social media accounts.”
Exactly right! There’s a way to do this. At the end of your supportive tweet you add “…and thank you so much to Jane Doe for setting up this Go Fund me (add link) and everyone who has supported them so far. I’ve been reading all the names and messages of support and I am overwhelmed by the kindness and all those stepping up and wanting to help. Just amazing!”…….. See what I did there?
Hey celebrities! I’ll draft your tweets for a very reasonable fee.
Right. I’m uncertain how I feel about some of the comments above, saying that she should be on the hook for her family member’s bills but….the optics are undeniably bad/tone-deaf in this situation.
For me at least, the issue isn’t that she should pay it. She has no obligation to do so. But she shouldn’t be asking of her fans more than she’s willing to do herself.
If she does make $100,000 an episode (as some have commented), then the full $15,000 is probably much less of a hardship for her than $50 would be to many of the fans she’s asking.
So, to me, it’s not just about optics. It’s about not asking of others more than you’re willing to do yourself.
I get that but posting a GoFundMe link isn’t always an *ask*, by my perception at least. Sometimes it’s just about showing support to someone who’s struggling.
I guess the larger issue is that she’s not just your average person, but a celebrity who’s use of platform will be–and probably should be–scrutinized.
I struggle to find sympathy for them, honestly. The majority of their fans would probably have to work 6 months+ to make $15,000. And maybe she did help – maybe the original expenses were $30,000 and this is what’s left, maybe she has an advisor telling her she can’t afford that much right now, maybe she doesn’t want to open the floodgates on her family (especially since she’s already dealt with a lot of family drama), it just seems very tacky for someone who is richer than most of us will ever be to ask for money.
GoFundMe shouldn’t be used for Medical expenses.
Healthcare shouldn’t bankrupt people.
Word!
This, plus GFM takes a cut of the money raised so I really dislike it. I’d rather donate via PayPal or Venmo.
As a Canadian, it breaks my heart to see how many GoFundMe accounts relate to health care and to realize that people have to make decisions based on what they can pay. Our system is not perfect, but I cannot fathom the alternative nor the lack of compassion that some seem to have for those who cannot afford access to the care they need.
This is really everything. Full stop.
I don’t publicly shame people and I also don’t have Twitter. I’ll leave my opinions for sites like this where we’re just having a conversation through commentary…now with that being said, I think she has the means to pay the entire $15,000 and I find it gross she would ask fans for anything. If it were a 6 or 7 figure number maybe then I’d be a little more empathetic but after just simply googling “how much does Ariel Winter make an episode” and getting an answer of $100,000, which is more than what most of us make in a year, she can go kick rocks.
Googling net worth = 12 million..she’s worked in the business for years, and does a lot of voice over work. It’s just bizarre that this amounts to loose change in her budget, and yet her instinct wasn’t..just pay it.
On the side of the people in this one. It’s one thing to use your influence to signal boost random GoFundMes that touch you – Patton Oswalt does that a lot and contributes hefty sums himself. It’s another to ask your presumably much poorer fans to take care of your own family with relatively minor expenses.
I get that maybe a thousand followers can afford $15 more easily than she can afford $15,000, but the optics are horrible and I’m generally more interested in giving to gofundmes for people who don’t have rich relatives.
I’d argue that $15 for me is $15k for her.
I tooootally agree that she’s not obligated to donate or foot the bill but I do think sharing this is odd and tone deaf. And her getting pissy about it is just more annoying.
She had to know that this would be the result. How far removed from reality do you have tti be to think otherwise?
@ J. – I totally agree.
J, yes. Couldn’t agree more. And it is so awful that our healthcare system forces anyone to need GoFundMes in the first place. We are the wealthiest country in the world with many, many indigent people and working poor. Too many of the wealthy don’t care about making this country stable, and they believe that they themselves are self-made. They get to do business here because we generally have peace, but that is now slipping given the gun violence and the chasm between rich and poor that continues to grow here. The Trumps and other wealthy people who don’t contribute like Bill Gates do are pushing us into revolution.
I’m sorry, this is ridiculous. I sympathize over her family, but the large majority of us are living paycheck by paycheck. The audacity to make at least five figures per episode (and multiply by 22) and ask people for money! This is actually enraging.
This is very upsetting to me. I don’t think I have ever disagreed so strongly with an article on this site. Maybe it is in a way a cultural difference. My family, my entire community, I grew up in large Catholic parish, has dealt with these issues by raising money through charitable events. I grew up as a kid making clay bead necklaces, we called them Cindy beads, for my neighbor and second mother whom was dying of brain cancer. We held fundraising dinners, ran 5K’s, held auctions. We did these things because each one of the families in the community was struggling to make ends meet – and we were middle class! We made sacrifices and we helped each other out but people didn’t ask for handouts. That is…. unspeakable behavior.
Coming from the know, 15K is a sneeze of an inpatient hospital bill. I was hospitalized this summer for two nights and it was twice that. It’s offensive to me that a millionaire would ask people who are scraping to pay their car insurance to throw up on a hospital bill that small. Ariel Winter makes more than 100K per episode on MF alone. I’m a trauma nurse living in one of the most expensive cities in the country and I make less than 70K per year. I live within my means and it sucks but I’m a responsible non-grifting adult with dignity. Completely tone deaf.
I don’t support giving people online hate but I’m sorry it is absurd that wealthy celebrities cannot give the funds to their own families. Sure they can’t provide income for every family member but they absolutely can foot the bill when there is a medical event or tragedy. That is beyond selfish and entitled. There is a big difference in family and randomly supporting a strangers gofundme.
Unpopular opinion here: I think spreading the word via a celebrity’s social media page is perfectly acceptable. For all we know, Ariel already provided $50k toward medical expenses/his living expenses post-hospitalization and has simply hit her limit, and $15k is what remains. Or she provides for other family members and doesn’t have the means to shell out $15k on a whim.
Fans send celebrities gifts and treats all the time — I imagine this is a way of saying “hey, if you feel moved to support me in any way, please do this for my family instead of sending fan mail.” If it was someone I was a big fan of (I’d have to be a BIG fan), someone who provided me with a lot of happiness through their music or acting or whatever, I’d probably donate a few dollars as a “thank you.”
Well said.
Using their celebrity platform to spread the word is great – if it’s for a charity or some other cause, or an individual if it’s a non-family member/close friend, and the celebrity donates something and shares it to help. Basically what Mackie did. Or to even ask for good thoughts/prayers/whatever.
But I can’t rationalize how it’s OK for someone of her means to ask fans to donate $15K to her cousin.
Agreed. It’s not like she’s requesting something for herself and ultimately, it’s optional. If people can’t donate or don’t want to, they don’t have to.
If you have the nerve to ask people for money and you’re a celebrity,especially for family members,then disclose how much of your money you put in.it will help
I’m glad to see that most of the commenters share my opinion and disagree with the article author. That’s not okay to ask fans (in other words, USE far less well-off people) to pay for your own family. Using your celebrity to do good is great, but Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winters need to put their hands back in their pockets, pull out their own cash and help out their family. This is greedy and manipulative behavior and abuse of fanbase. Ariel, help your cousin and encourage your fanbase to donate to some family whose child has menengitis, but no cousin who makes millions!!
Doesn’t she make, like, a million dollars an episode? Whatever. I’m probably an asshole for thinking this, but this is a whole lot of wrong. $15,000!? Pay the damn bill, Ariel, if you really love your cousin.
I used to give her a pass, but I’m done. Her and her ugly-ass, creepy-trash boyfriend are every way gross.
For the most part, she’s not one of the celebrities who does much that people would have to give her a pass for. She’s pretty well-behaved. Don’t really know anything about her boyfriend though, other than the fact that he looks younger than he is.
Sure. Wrong choice of words. I just never cared about how she dresses, like many people.
My opinion on her boyfriend is just my opinion. I once saw a pic of him and a friend smacking her ass on a beach….and it was just really….there was just something about it that woke my “danger” instinct. I don’t trust the dude at all. And, he is from Alberta…..so, ya know 🙂 .
I have to admit that I’m not a fan of crowd funding, since it seem to be too much like panhandling on the internet – especially when people ask for money to buy luxuries they cannot afford, like a lavish wedding or an exotic vacation. However, I don’t have any problem with people asking for money for medical expenses or other necessities they cannot afford, because I always assume they don’t have family members who can help them out. So when rich actors ask the public – who make much, much less than they do – to donate funds for their relatives because they don’t want to dip into their millions – words fail me.
I know someone who post a GFM so she could go to some courses to change her career, to a shrinking industry, no less. She had a job at the time, and lived at home so not a ton of bills, and got mad that no one donated. She ended up paying for the courses herself, and dropped out after 2 weeks.
There are some necessary and worthy ones out there, and I try to help when I can, but as with most things, the awful people try to take advantage and ruin it.
It always weirds me out that Americans have to set up Go fund me pages to pay for hospital bills. I hope you’ll get to a place where people are willing to pay a bit more in taxes to get health care for all. I would get such anxiety if my health care was dependent on the kindness of friends, family and strangers.
it’s sad that it’s like this and people still want to think this is the greatest country. The only thing we have going really is freedom of speech.
It’s Republicans fault. They don’t want a single penny going to black and brown people. Literally. A guy even wrote a book about it recently.
Here’s a video with the author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEgAn45hXKg&t=
Caveat: The host, John, and the author, however, are all the way wrong by saying that the type of behavior talked about in the video is “not racist.” It absolutely is. TYT, the news outlet that this is from, though progressive, has some real issues when it comes to understanding racism.
It causes a huge amount of anxiety, believe me! They are still trying to take it away, and food assistance. The current regime is absolutely awful to anyone who isn’t rich and white and male.
Can’t say it any better than everyone else already has!
Source: am plastics nurse. This girl has spent a lot (probs 6 figures) on injectables, lipo and the lot so just another reason to be extra pissy about her passing on the GFM page. And seriously please don’t even try to tell me all of these changes happened by diet – losing weight doesn’t mean it goes straight to your lips. Don’t insult my career and education. Also people lie to healthcare professionals all the time, we aren’t idiots, we can see through it and the motivation is obvious. My patient lied to me yesterday, told me he could feel his toes when I damn well knew he couldn’t feel it they are black and frostbitten, shriveled up as all hell and have been ready to crack off for a month. He doesn’t want an amputation and thinks if he lies about it it will make reality not reality. All these Hollywood b’s lying about their body work is annoying as hell because the average Jane thinks of herself in an even worse light. “Ariel did it with diet, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I” Then they get shitty self-esteem and it’s not much longer down the rabbit hole till they attempt self-harm and/or suicide. Teen suicide is through the roof and society is sitting here like an idiot going “huh, I wonder why???” Oh really? It’s not friggin obvious?!!
First you’re a trauma nurse, then a plastics nurse? Pick a story, and then please don’t regale us with it.
Also, fear over amputation is not the same as… a patient “lying” to you. Come on!!
She most likely has had injectables, but I don’t think she ever claimed that her weight loss was due to diet. It’s due to a change in her psych meds, The meds she had been on for years caused weight gain/ not being able to lose it through exercise, she complained to her doctor about the issue, and now whatever they have her on fixed it.
https://www.etonline.com/ariel-winter-gets-candid-about-her-recent-weight-loss-and-mental-health-123158
I always liked Ariel but I feel she goes too out of her way to respond to her detractors.
Is this a little tone deaf? Yes but I understand. It isn’t their responsibility to pay for their family and there’s only so much access to their actual cash anyways.
It’s very tacky & annoying. These gals get swag bags worth more than 15K @ celeb events.
Gofundme should be used only if you are unable to cover the expenses yourself. Particularly gross is sharing the gofundme of a close family member whose bill you CAN cover without significantly impacting your finances. Seriously, just cover it yourself or don’t say anything.
And the doubling down makes it worse. If love and support were all the cousin needed, then ask for that. Gofundme is NOT a way to express general support, it is a way to express support financially, which sometimes gets blurred into petition-signing. That is it.
You look classy and gorgeous in these photos.