Ariel Winter is being slammed with “hate tweets” after she asked fans to donate to her cousin’s GoFundMe after he was hospitalized for a near-fatal infection.
The Modern Family actress had taken to her Instagram Story earlier this week asking fans to help raise money for her cousin, Tino Tsutras, who had been “rushed to the hospital and put on life support” last week before later being diagnosed with Haemophilus Influenzae, a potentially life-threatening infection.
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Her request for help didn’t go over well with some, however, and on Tuesday, Winter found herself clapping back at those who criticized her for not footing Tsautras’ medical bills herself.
“Thanks for your sh— response to my sick cousin,” Winter responded to one tweet. “What makes you think I’m not? Love assumptions! BTW — if someone isn’t able to donate, then I absolutely wouldn’t want them to. His friend created the gofundme so I will of course share for my cousin like anyone else would.”
“My family will continue doing everything we can for him (which shouldn’t even be a question) outside of gofundme as well,” she continued. “Criticizing someone when a family member is ill or has suffered a tragedy is horrible. Especially when someone has no idea what’s happening in our real lives.”
Winter added that she was “shocked” by the negative responses she received after revealing her cousin’s hospitalization.
“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,” she wrote. “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.”
The actress had initially taken to her Instagram Story on Monday to reveal her cousin’s hospitalization, requesting their help in raising the rising expenses in relations to his hospitalization.
“I love my cousin so much,” she wrote in part, sharing the link to his GoFundMe page, which stated that Tsutras has a lengthy recovery ahead of him and would therefore miss a lot of work. “He is an incredible person that deserves all the love and support in the world. It would mean a lot to me if anyone would consider donating to his recovery fund. Anything helps.”
In an update on Tuesday, Winter said that her cousin is “out of the coma and able to see all of the love and support he has,” though he still “has a long road ahead of him” and will be “in the hospital for awhile and then will have to spend time recovering.”
The GoFundMe page has since raised more than $20,000 of its initial $15,000, with a $2,500 donation coming from Winter’s Modern Family co-star Sarah Hyland.
