Alyssa Milano Is Taking Flak For Fundraising For Her Son’s Baseball Team

Celebrities, they’re just like us, right? It turns out even household names have to fundraise for their kids’ sports teams — although when they do it, they might get criticized for not just writing the whole check themselves. That’s what happened to actor Alyssa Milano this week when she dared to set up a GoFundMe for her 12-year-old son’s baseball team.

The Melrose Place star, who shares son Milo Thomas and 9-year-old daughter Elizabella Dylan with husband David Bugliari, posted on X that the team was raising money for a trip to Cooperstown and that “any amount would be so greatly appreciated.”

On the GoFundMe, which had a goal of $10,000, 51-year-old Milano explained further that funds would go toward “travel costs, uniforms, and dues for families. We also might use your donations for pins or novelty items to make our tournaments memorable experiences beyond the field.”

The post was met with a huge amount of negativity — mostly of people asking why they should donate their money when Milano, who has been working in Hollywood since childhood, is likely pretty darn well off financially.

Two days after the post, she responded to the criticism by explaining that she has indeed donated a lot to the boys’ baseball team, and that the boys themselves also raise money to play and travel.

“I’m getting media inquiries about whether I have financially contributed to my son’s baseball team. I’ve paid for uniforms for the entire team and coaches, thrown bday parties and sponsor any kid who can’t afford monthly dues. The kids also do fundraising themselves — car washes, movie nights, and many other fun things! Thank you to all who have contributed to the gofundme! You’ve made things easier for these boys and their families,” she wrote.

In the past few days, she’s also retweeted a bunch of other GoFundMes from other traveling sports teams.

It seems a bit much to ask even a very successful mom like Milano to cover all of the costs of an entire traveling sports team every year her son plays — even though it might have been a bit of a weird move for her to solicit funds on her social media instead from family and friends (like the rest of us plebs).

The whole thing has gotten a mixed response from the public and fans.

“It’s unreal, right away, just because you’re an actress, people think you have to fund the entire thing,” one person on X wrote. “There’s not a damn thing wrong with your doing this. It’s a great example for the kids to see you as Alyssa the Mom, not Alyssa the actress.”

“There’s nothing wrong with kids of rich people doing fundraising and learning skills,” another said. “But leveraging your audience to fundraise for them does not teach them anything.”

“You have millions of dollars and you’re asking other people less fortunate than you to pay for your son’s Team trip,” one critic added.

Personally, I wonder if this would have gone down the same way if a kid’s famous dad had made the same post about getting his son’s team funded for a traveling game. Would he have just looked like a loving, involved parent?

Either way, though, the team has met their fundraising goal and is off to Cooperstown, controversy or not.