Robin Williams has taken to social media to plead with her fans to stop sending her a viral video showing an actor portraying her late father.
Earlier this week, 30-year-old actor and filmmaker Jamie Costa went viral on social media after uploading a video to his YouTube channel showing him portraying the late Robin Williams. The video amassed millions of views in just a matter of days, as Costa's impersonation of Williams amazed fans.
In the clip, Costa plays Williams was cementing himself as a household name in the sitcom Mork & Mindy back in 1982.
The scene depicts Williams in his dressing room, when co-star Pam Dawber (played in the scene by Sarah Murphree), comes in to tell him that comedian and Williams' close friend John Belushi had died.
The video has since been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim, but it still racking up views on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Check out the spot-on impersonation below:Costa's performance was widely praised on social media, with many people calling for a biopic to be made honoring the late Williams, with Costa in the starring role.
However, Williams' daughter, 32-year-old Zelda, has now taken to Twitter to ask fans to stop sharing the clip with her.
On Tuesday she tweeted: "Guys, I’m only saying this because I don’t think it’ll stop until I acknowledge it … please, stop sending me the ‘test footage’. I’ve seen it. Jamie is SUPER talented, this isn’t against him, but y’all spamming me an impression of my late Dad on one of his saddest days is weird."
Per the New York Post, Williams visited Belushi just hours before the Saturday Night Live star passed away from a drug overdose at the age of 33 (a fact that Costa's scene alludes to).
Sadly, Zelda still had to further clarify her comments to some Twitter users, explaining that no matter what people's intentions were behind sending the clip, it still made her feel uncomfortable.
She added: "Your love for Dad doesn’t mean I have to tolerate being bombarded in silence, and being projected upon can be pretty exhausting some days."
Fortunately, many people were respectful of her wishes, which in turn led to a new trend where people would instead send her pictures of their pets:
And the sentiment certainly did not go unappreciated, as Zelda addressed all the adorable pet snaps in a tweet reading: "Btw can I just add that I really dig this new trend of folks sending unsolicited pet pictures under otherwise somewhat bummer posts? It’s LOVELY, please always send me all the pictures of your furry (or scaly/spiky) dependents, please and thank you!"
Robin Williams passed away at the age of 63 in 2014. He died by suicide, with CBS reporting how the beloved actor had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but an autopsy later showed he had Lewy body disease.
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