It all started when the actress posted on X, formerly Twitter, late last month asking fans to donate to a fundraiser for a trip for her son’s baseball team. She linked to a GoFundMe page, which was created in May 2023, seeking $10,000.
Cue the uproar. “You are a damned millionaire,” one X user wrote. “Girl they still play ‘Charmed’ on TNT,” wrote another.
Milano isn’t the first celebrity to get backlash for requesting donations. (Remember when Kylie Jenner shared a GoFundMe for a makeup artist’s medical expenses?) So why do we get so up in arms when famous people ask for money? Experts say it has less to do with the celebrity and more to do with the economic stress people are under, as well as a phenomenon known as “donation fatigue,” which has been exacerbated lately by global turmoil.
Alyssa Milano had a wholesome request. Yet, the internet wasn’t too “charmed.”
“A lot of people are feeling like they’re stuck and they are living week-to-week, and people are feeling like they’re not sure how they can make a difference,” psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis says. “Those feelings can be directed toward a person, especially when people don’t feel like they have a voice or their voice has been blocked.”
Why are people so heated about Alyssa Milano?
There’s the obvious reason, Sarkis says, which is that people perceive Milano as wealthy and are put off when she asks for money, especially for something personal.
But the ire also points to a deeper stress people are feeling, Sarkis adds.
“We have to look at the bigger issue,” she says. “When you have people that can’t afford a house and can’t afford day-to-day expenses, it does stoke anger toward people that do have enough and are asking for more, or they’re asking for more for someone else.”
“People have an assumption that celebrities are very rich, and they’re not going to be particularly amenable to having them ask for yet more money,” Luckett says. “Especially in an economic moment like the one we’re in where a lot of people are hurting, they don’t want to hear people who seemingly have it all asking for money from ordinary people.”
When this anger combines with the anonymity afforded by the internet, backlash is almost inevitable, Sarkis says.
What is the right way to ask for help?
Despite the online furor, Milano defended her donations request on Instagram.
“Every parent raises money for their child’s sports teams and many of them do so through GoFundMe. I am no different,” she captioned screenshots of people commenting on her 12-year-old son’s photos. “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. Maybe someday.”
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