James Van Der Beek dies at 48 — Page 2

John Adams said "There's no doubt about the fact that there are many more families in desperate need… Yes… and?"



Perhaps HG's second (spite) donation would have been better going to one of those cases. Instead of somewhere that has already far exceed their target. I would have thought so. Or maybe a cancer charity.

Jay Lerner-Z said: "The power of celebrity.

Worth remembering there are many more families in desperate need."

I agree with you Jay. Celebrities have plenty of people to help them IMO so I would never fund any of their "Go Fund Me" efforts. I prefer to help in my local community which has people in more desperate need like you mentioned.

John Adams said: "The man (and regardless of where his talent has taken him - he is still a man, like others. And by many accounts, a generally decent man) just died from an illness that is not quick, and also carries with it a prerequisite period of endured suffering for both patient and family. Even if you’re “right” in your opinions - your timing in regards to criticizing a mourning family really stinks. “Yikes”."

"Thank You" John Adams. YIKES indeed.

kdogg36 said:

I literally go to grocery stores and count the change in my pocket to see if I can afford a snack this week. Should I set up a GoFundMe to see what I can get out of it?"

Wow, so you are financially irresponsible enough to go to a Broadway show, give a review about it, but you can't afford a snack? Is what I would say to someone if I truly thought in my mind that other people's finances and how they spend their money was any of my business. It's simply not.

It is easier to resent the visible than to interrogate the powerful. So, when friends of Eric Dane and James Van Der Beek organized GoFundMe campaigns, what they were doing was not frivolous. Their friends were doing something ordinary. They were passing the hat.

Communities have always done this. In small towns. In churches. In union halls. When someone is ill, when someone is grieving, when uncertainty descends, people gather resources and say: Let us help carry them. It's been this way since humans existed.

At the center of all of this are families. Spouses. Children. Parents. Friends standing in the shock of illness and death and asking what can be done. In their grief, they chose the most tangible gift available: financial stability in an unstable moment. That choice does not signal elitism. It signals love. Perhaps the more revealing question is not why anyone would give, but why generosity toward someone recognizable provokes such suspicion. Are the people judging or calling it horrible have any friends or family? I honestly wonder. Compassion should not have a means test. Ever.

It's absolutely abhorrent that anyone would have the nerve to speak negatively about a voluntary act, in which they do not have to participate in. Like, were you raised in a barnyard? Anyone who does has never lost someone to cancer or ALS or drug addiction as so many of us have. The families don't need your judgement at this devastating time. They don't need your inane, offensive questions. Their lives have been altered forever. Don't give and scroll past, it requires no comment. Period.

Thank you for acknowledging that. You are thoughtful and have a lot to offer on here and in life, I sincerely believe. I just wanted to let you know that, K.