John Amos’ daughter says that the “Good Times” star had “fallen victim to elder abuse and financial exploitation” and was “fighting for his life” in the ICU, but the actor himself refutes those claims.
In a GoFundMe campaign launched two days ago, Shannon told supporters that she got a “distressing call” from her 83-year-old father on May 14, when he was hospitalized in Memphis, Tenn.
“Though I was out of the country, we managed a brief FaceTime conversation before his pain became too unbearable,” she wrote. “Desperate, I reached out to a family friend, who flew to Memphis while I prepared to join them. What we found shattered our world: my dad fighting for his life in the ICU.”
Shannon went on: “During the following weeks, my family and I unraveled a horrifying truth — my dad had fallen victim to elder abuse and financial exploitation. Determined to seek justice, we are working closely with the Colorado Bureau of Investigations and the local Sheriff’s Department in my father’s home state.”
She added that the alleged “elder abuse, neglect, and fiduciary abuse” are “believed to be perpetrated by a trusted caregiver.”
The GoFundMe campaign — which has so far raised less than $10,000 of its $500,000 goal — will help John’s family with “legal expenses, long-term care, ongoing medical treatment, and the costs associated with his recent hospitalization in another state away from home,” Shannon wrote.
On Thursday, however, John spoke with TMZ, saying that he hasn’t been fighting for his life, he’s not being abused, and he doesn’t know why Shannon started the GoFundMe campaign. A representative for John said that the actor was hospitalized because fluid was filling his lower body, but the rep added that doctors have drained all of the fluid and that John is feeling fine again.
John starred in the first three seasons of “Good Times,” playing patriarch James Evans in the “Maude” spinoff, which debuted on CBS in 1974. The actor is also famous for his Emmy-nominated role as the adult Kunta Kinte in the widely-watched 1977 ABC miniseries “Roots.” He also recurred as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace on the NBC political drama “The West Wing,” starting in 1999.