Mandy Moore responds to critics of her LA fires GoFundMe: “Kindly F off”
Mandy Moore has fired back at people criticising her for promoting a GoFundMe campaign about the Los Angeles wildfires.
On Thursday, the This Is Us star posted on her Instagram that her brother-in-law Griff and sister-in-law Kit “lost everything” in the devastating fires, just weeks before the birth of their first child. She also shared a fundraising campaign set up by a mutual friend to support her relatives.
Moore, whose own home has also been damaged by the fires, received some backlash for the post, with people questioning why she was asking people to donate to her family’s cause given her success.
She took on the criticism head-on in a follow-up post on Friday (January 10). ”And people questioning whether we’re helping out our own family or attributing some arbitrary amount of money google says someone has is NOT helpful or empathetic,” she wrote.
“Of course we are. Our buddy Matt started this go fund me and i’m sharing because people have asked how they can help them. We just lost most of our life in a fire too. Kindly F OFF. no one is forcing you to do anything.”
Moore did later provide a further update, in which she thanked her followers for offering their support to her family. “Blown away by the love & support for these two,” she wrote. “Thank you thank you thank you. People are unbelievably kind.”
The wildfires broke out on January 7 and have claimed the lives of 11 people to date, with nearly 180,000 residents having evacuated their homes and over 13,400 structures sustaining damages.
Among those to have passed away is the former child actor Rory Callum Sykes, who died aged 32 in his home in Malibu on Wednesday (January 8).
Others to be affected include Paris Hilton, who watched her home burn down on television, as well as James Woods, Billy Crystal, Cary Elwes and Mark Hamill.
Heroes and This Is Us actor Milo Ventimiglia also choked up during a live interview while discussing watching his own house burn down, while a fundraiser for DIIV frontman Zachary Cole Smith was launched after his house succumbed to the fires. Mel Gibson‘s house was another victim of the fires, with the actor revealing that it burned down while he was recording his appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast.
A benefit concert for the victims has been announced. Dubbed FireAid, it will take place at LA’s Intuit Dome on January 30, with proceeds going to the rebuild program and to displaced families. No line-up has currently been announced.
The post Mandy Moore responds to critics of her LA fires GoFundMe: “Kindly F off” appeared first on NME.
Max Pilley
NME
