IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Nick Cordero's widow, Amanda Kloots, slams Trump for tweeting, 'Don't be afraid of Covid'

The widow of the Broadway star said Trump's tweet about not letting the coronavirus "dominate your life" is "a slap in the face."
/ Source: TODAY

Exactly three months after Broadway star Nick Cordero died from COVID-19, his widow ripped into President Donald Trump on Monday for his message to the country to not let the coronavirus "dominate your life," calling it "a slap in the face" and "beyond hurtful."

An emotional Amanda Kloots criticized the president on her Instagram stories Monday in the wake of Trump's tweet that accompanied his discharge from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being admitted on Friday to be treated for COVID-19. Trump then made a show of taking off his mask in the White House for a photo opportunity.

Amanda Kloots, the widow of Broadway star Nick Cordero, ripped President Trump for the comments he made about the coronavirus after being discharged from the hospital.
Amanda Kloots, the widow of Broadway star Nick Cordero, ripped President Trump for the comments he made about the coronavirus after being discharged from the hospital. @amandakloots/Instagram/ Getty Images

"Don’t be afraid of Covid," Trump tweeted. "Don’t let it dominate your life. We have developed, under the Trump Administration, some really great drugs & knowledge. I feel better than I did 20 years ago!"

Cordero died at 41 on July 5 from complications from COVID-19 after 95 days with the illness, leaving Kloots and their 1-year-old son, Elvis, to mourn his loss.

"What about the people who lost loved ones????" Kloots wrote on her Instagram stories. "Have some class, decency, maybe even an inch of empathy Mr. President. Not everyone was lucky to only spend 2 days in the hospital. NO DECENT HUMAN, YET OUR LEADER, WOULD SAY A COMMENT LIKE THIS! IT'S A SLAP IN THE FACE."

Kloots also held back tears in a video on her Instagram stories in which she expressed her anger at Trump's statement.

"I'm sitting here in my house and I'm honestly frozen," she said. "I can't really even move. I couldn't believe what I read. I just have to say to all the over 208,000 families that lost a loved one to this disease, you know how terrifying it can be. Not everyone's lucky enough to walk out of the hospital after two days.

"We saw what this disease can do so guess what? We are afraid. We are. I still am. I think about if I got as sick as Nick, little Elvis doesn't have his mom anymore, so I'm afraid. And let it 'dominate' your life. No one's 'letting it.' Nick didn't 'let it.' It wasn't a choice, and it dominated his life, it dominated my life, it dominated our families' lives for 95 days, and because he didn't make it, it will forever affect my life."

Kloots called on Trump to have some respect for the families who have lost loved ones to the illness since the pandemic began in March.

"It's beyond hurtful, and have some empathy!" she said. "Why are you bragging? Have empathy to the Americans that you are our leader. Have some empathy to the people that are suffering and grieving. It's just not fair.

"To act like this disease is nothing and you got right over it. I'm so happy that you did, you know, thank God you did, but guess what? There are a lot of people that didn't."

Trump has received criticism for months over downplaying the severity of the virus, particularly after a new book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward featured him talking about how he knew in February it was "deadly stuff" but wanted to "play it down."

Now that he's endured it himself, Kloots was hoping for more sympathy for others who have had it and the families who have lost loved ones.

"I'm not sorry because it's too sad, it's too real, and it's real for the people who went through it, it's real for the families, it's real for the wives," she said. "It'll be real for Elvis one day when he actually understands what happened to his dad. It's real, so I'm not sorry. So please, just say something kind. Say something that might make the people that you lead feel like you got us, you're wrapping your arms around us."

Kloots concluded by writing, "Joe Biden you have my vote, and I hope and pray you win this election."