A kid questioned his bullies and got support from the entire internet
Bullies suck, but sometimes the best way to deal with them is to call out their deplorable actions in public. One kid and his mother took to the internet to talk about his bad treatment at the hands of other kids, and ended up finding more support than they could've ever expected.
Knoxville, Tennessee middle schooler Keaton Jones said that he was being bullied so much that he would rather leave school early and skip lunch than face his tormentors. His mother, Kimberly, took a video of Keaton talking about how other kids poured milk on him, put food on his clothes, and mocked him. He had one simple question: Why?
Kimberly posted a brief explainer about the situation along with the video.
For the record, Keaton asked to do this AFTER he had he me pick him up AGAIN because he was afraid to go to lunch. My kids are by no stretch perfect, & at home, he's as all boy as they come, but by all accounts he's good at school. Talk to your kids. I've even had friends of mine tell me they're kids were only nice to him to get him to mess with people. We all know how it feels to want to belong, but only a select few know how it really feels not to belong anywhere.
Keaton's questions about bullying clearly struck a chord with more than just his middle school community and his mom's friends on Facebook. The video has been viewed over 15.7 million times in just a few days, and it's caught the attention of some major figures in the Knoxville area and the wider world at large via the hashtag #standwithkeaton.
Keaton has stayed mostly silent as the internet has rallied around him in support, but his sister Lakyn has stepped up as his advocate on Twitter.
University of Tennessee football players were among the first to rally around Keaton, and players from the state's NFL squad, the Tennessee Titans, reached out with messages of support as well.
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But support for Keaton extended beyond just Tennessee. UFC boss Dana White shared the message, too.
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Millie Bobby Brown, star of Stranger Things, chimed in.
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Reigning rap queen Cardi B weighed in, with an important message: Bullying is not gangsta.
A GoFundMe campaign even popped up to pay for Keaton's future college tuition, as comedian Patton Oswalt led the charge to raise over $20,000 in less than 24 hours.
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At the end of his viral message, Keaton introspectively told other kids dealing with bullies that things will probably get better, someday. From all of the responses on social media, that someday is now for him.
Hopefully, other victims of bullying will see things get better in their lives, too.
Topics Celebrities
Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.
