Santa under Fire for Fat Shaming a Morbidly Obese Kid, Has Now Been Hospitalized with a Blood Clot, Town Rallies in Support behind Him

The story of the so-called "Bad Santa" in Forest City has taken a sad turn, and a relative believes there may have been an underlying reason for the outburst that made a boy cry.



Earlier this week, a family claimed he told a little boy to "lay off the burgers and fries," and the story went viral.



Earl Crowder, the man behind the suit, has been in the hospital since Wednesday.



"He woke up having trouble breathing and ended up having to go the hospital, and he's still there," says Kelly Butler, who is Crowder's niece.



She says he has a blood clot in his lung to go with a broken heart following the controversy.



She tells WLOS accusations that he's a bad Santa, made him a sad Santa.



"He was very heartbroken," Butler said. "In fact, his first thoughts, he wanted to cut his hair and shave his beard."



Kelly thinks he was in pain when he uttered the words that put 9-year-old Anthony Mayse in tears.



"We all have a slip of the tongue and we regret it and we say I'm sorry," she says. "I just hate, I hate the fact that he was labeled 'Bad Santa.'"



The local Kris Kringle resigned over a firestorm after the Mayse family claimed he fat-shamed Anthony.



"And when it got done, he said, 'lay off the hamburgers and French fries,' and that really just disrespected me and I felt awful," the child told WLOS on Tuesday.



"What set me off is when he started crying," his mother Ashley said.



Twelve years ago, Crowder assumed his jovial role in Forest City. He replaced the previous Santa, who was arrested for inappropriately touching a little girl.



Crowder's jolly resume goes back four decades.