Lieutenant Dan’s daughter fears viral fame could ‘put him in early grave’, urges fans not to give money

TAMPA, FLORIDA: The daughter of Lieutenant Dan, the one-legged Florida man who rose to fame after Hurricane Milton, has sounded the alarm against the sudden attention on her father.

Ashley Ann Malinowski ripped the influencers who made Lieutenant Dan viral over his refusal to leave his sailboat amid the category 3 Hurricane Milton that left behind a trail of destruction in Florida.

Joseph Malinowski got the nickname Lieutenant Dan after Gary Sinise's character in 'Forrest Gump'.

Malinowski first went viral after Terrence Concannon, a University of Tampa student, started recording him as Hurricane Milton made its landfall this week. Over $46,000 in donations flooded the GoFundMe fundraiser Concannon organized to help him.

Ashley Ann Malinowski slams influencers, explains why Lieutenant Dan should not receive more fame

Ashley Ann Malinowski expressed her annoyance at the surging attention on her father, Joesph Malinowski, and the donations that followed in a recent TikTok video, as per Daily Mail.

Addressing the matter, while visibly in tears, she said her father might "probably end up dead" due to the fame. She claimed that Malinowski was doing "just fine" without the recent influx of money.

"Y'all TikTok... famous people blowing him up... he's going to be dead before he can even enjoy that boat," Ashley fumed.

According to her, her one-legged father looked "high" in the viral videos, causing her to question whether it was only weed. She kept tabs on Malinowski for ten years to ensure he was alive.

"Now he's gonna get all of this and probably end up dead because of it," Ashley said about the sudden flow of financial help.

"Y'all are gonna f**king put him in the grave for making him famous and giving him this money and offering him this s**t," the daughter continued voicing her anger against the influencers, adding they had no idea what they were doing with someone they did not know.

"Nobody actually f**king cares for him either. Nobody actually cares. Y'all are just using him to make him famous, to make yourselves more famous, to make yourselves look good," Ashely added tearfully.

In light of his newfound fame 'Lieutenant Dan' started his own social media journey through a new TikTok account this week, telling about how he survived Hurricane Milton on his sailboat. He has since garnered 270,000 followers.

Streamer Adin Ross initially pledged to buy Malinowski a new boat, but he seemingly backed out after learning about the sailor's extensive criminal record.

Internet divided over Lieutenant Dan's daughter's warning against his newfound fame

Netizens emerged with mixed responses to Ashley Ann Malinowski's TikTok video warning against the fame of her one-legged father and how the money could affect his life.

While one group suggested Lieutenant Dan could make use of the money and his daughter was jealous, some others supported Ashley.

"I don’t see how letting him go back to being a struggling hermit is going to make him so much better off than getting a piece of this temporary craze. His 15 minutes will be up soon enough regardless," one user said.

"Or maybe he will be able to find a decent mental health provider and get regulated," another added.

"Makes sense unfortunately. Homelessness is usually a choice or a consequence of poor choices," a third user wrote.

"She’s scared and nothing is her fault. He better find a way to take care of that woman," someone else wrote.

"I think she is also jealousy," read a fifth response.

"The daughter is upset that she has lost control of her indigent dad. She used to control him because he had to ask her for money. He can waste his money or he’ll be able to go to a doctor/dentist. His teeth looked painful. He can also buy a leg prosthesis now and not walk around with crutches which is also painful," another opined.

"She’s actually completely correct people should’ve just left this man alone, despite seeing that he’s had some criminal past. It appears that he just wants to be left alone, everybody on X did the same thing they made money off him by getting likes, basically promoting themselves," an individual said.

"She’s right. I never cared about him and never will and ignored every post about him," read one remark.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online