A schoolboy whose emotional video pleading for bullies to leave him alone went viral has been inundated with support from celebrities.
Keaton Jones, a middle school student from Tennessee, poured his heart out in his mother’s car after calling her to pick him up because he was afraid to go to lunch and face his tormentors.
“Why do they bully? What's the point of it?” a tearful Keaton asks in the clip. “Why do you find joy in taking innocent people and finding a way to be mean to them? It's not ok.”
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He recounts how lunchroom bullies call him names, throw food at him and once even poured milk over him.
“They make fun of my nose. They call me ugly. They say I have no friends,” he says, adding that he is not the only one to fall victim to bullying.
“If you are made fun of, just don't let it bother you. Just stay strong, I guess,” he says, crying. “It's hard. But it'll probably get better one day.”
Keaton’s mother, Kimberly Jones, uploaded the clip on Facebook on Friday to raise awareness of the emotional impact of bullying. According to one major study, one in five US school students experiences bullying.
The video garnered first hundreds and then thousands of likes and shares. By Sunday, her post had more than 18 million views, The Guardian reports.
Over the weekend, the video reached celebrities as diverse as Donald Trump Jr., Snoop Dogg and Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown.
Celebrities rallied round Keaton to offer support and share their support and words of wisdom, including pop stars Sia and Demi Lovato and Star Wars actor Mark Hamill.
While basketball legend LeBron James was on hand with a rousing put-down of “corny cowards”:
Justin Bieber posted a response video to Instagram in which he praised Keaton’s compassion for other bullying victims, calling him a “legend”:
Actor and model Hailee Steinfeld recorded a video message for Keaton asking him to be her “date” to the premiere of her latest film, Pitch Perfect 3:
And Donald Trump Jr. even offered to host Keaton and his family in Las Vegas:
And if none of those take his fancy, Keaton had no shortage of other offers, from sports matches to music concerts.
“Overwhelmed is the understatement of the world right now”, his mother, Kimberly Jones, wrote in a follow-up post.
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