In an October 5 tweet, President Donald Trump, who had been released from the hospital following treatment for the coronavirus, wrote, "Don't be afraid of COVID. Don't let it dominate your life."
Amanda Kloots, who lost her husband—Tony-nominated actor Nick Cordero—to the virus in July, responded to the President's post, writing on Instagram, "To all the over 208,000 Americans who lost loved ones to this virus—I stand by you, with you, holding your hand.
"Unfortunately it did dominate our lives, didn’t it? It dominated Nick’s family’s lives and my family’s lives. I guess we 'let it'—like it was our choice? Unfortunately, not everyone is lucky enough to spend two days in the hospital. I cried next to my husband for 95 days watching what COVID did to the person I love. It is something to be afraid of. After you see the person you love the most die from this disease, you would never say what this tweet says. There is no empathy to all the lives lost. He is bragging instead. It is sad. It is hurtful. It is disgraceful."
To date, over 210,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19, according to John Hopkins University & Medicine.
READ: The Theatre Community Remembers the Life and Work of Nick Cordero
Cordero made his Broadway debut in 2012 in Rock of Ages, going on to create roles in the original Broadway companies of Bullets Over Broadway (where he met Kloots and earned a Tony nomination), Waitress, and A Bronx Tale.
On September 17—what would have been Cordero's 42nd birthday—Broadway Records released Live Your Life: Live at Feinstein's/54 Below, an album of the performer's solo show at the venue. Proceeds will go to Kloots and their young son, Elvis.
