Famous child TV star Scott Baio has had a controversial week. It started out with his childhood sweetheart, and costar Erin Moran, dying. She had played Joanie to his Chachi in the hit series Happy Days. Moran had publicly struggled with addiction and had a somewhat troubled life. Following her death, Baio was asked to comment on radio.
Assuming Moran had died of an overdose, he gave quite a heartless response:
“You do drugs, or drink, you’re going to die. And I’m sorry if that’s cold. God gave you a brain.”
It turns out Moran actually died of throat cancer. Social media unleashed on Baio calling him all sorts of names, with some even saying they wished he had died instead of Moran.
Baio has since apologized and appeared on Inside Edition to speak about the mistake, and Moran’s death. He states in the interview that he feels if he had been a liberal rather than a conservative Trump supporter, he would have had a ‘free pass.’
On Inside Edition Baio explained:
“I jumped the gun. I should have known better…If I had been a liberal Hollywood person, I’d a got a complete pass…they don’t let anything slide with me.”
If a ‘liberal’ had said those words, they would remain as shocking and cruel. Moran was a real life person. Many child stars do struggle in adulthood. Baio now shows remorse for his words, and of course, online comments wishing his death are way out of line.
The moral here is for everyone to think before you speak.
We do live in hyper-partisan times, but there is another way to look at this. Someone had just died. Not just someone, a woman who had once been as close to Baio as possible. According to Baio, she was his first girlfriend. Even if she had died of an addiction-related overdose, his words were extremely inappropriate and indeed cold. This reaction to his comments have less to do with politics and actually much more to do with the expectation of showing empathy, love, and sympathy to those around you, especially when they have just died.
Since her death, there has not only been social media outrage at Baio’s comments, but he has also found himself feuding Moran’s family for his comments.
Ron Howard and Henry Winkler have been vocal critics of Trump, as opposed to Baio who has praised him. While they have starkly different political views, Baio recently posted a photo of his former cast together, remembering Moran.
Baio tweeted this photo of his old TV family:
Celebrating the life of #ErinMoran #HappyDaysFamily @RealRonHoward @most_don @Singing2Bulldog pic.twitter.com/rN2aMvdXLe
— Scott Baio (@ScottBaio) May 3, 2017
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Featured image via YouTube.
