A middle schooler's anti-bullying video has gone viral, but stay tuned because
there's a twist. Welcome back to What's Trending, I'm
Shira Lazar. Be sure to LIKE this video and SUBSCRIBE for more social media news.
Mother Kimberly Jones picked up her son Keaton early from middle school because
he'd been bullied. Again. Keaton asked his mother to take a video
so he could explain how he was feeling. Though it was painful to recount,
Kimberly asked Keaton to explain what the bullies do to him.
On Kimberly's original video, which has now
been made private, she wrote: "My kids are by no stretch perfect, and 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 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." The emotional video
went viral over the weekend, garnering 3.4 million views on the "Love What
Matters" Facebook page, and millions more on Twitter. And reactions on social media
were overwhelmingly supportive of Keaton. One of the first people to share the
video on Twitter, Elijah Johnson, wrote: "Y'all he is shaking! This is what is going
on in these schools. What about the ones who don't tell someone? This is why I
can't stand a f*cking bully!" Keaton's sister Lakyn also thanked everyone on Twitter
for reaching out for support. She wrote: "This is my little brother.
Thank you for spreading awareness. Apologies again to those tweets I can't
get to. My mentions are flooded and I'm trying my best. We thank everyone for the
love and support." A ton of celebrities have been reaching out as well. Actress
Hailee Steinfeld invited Keaton to the Pitch Perfect 3 premiere on Tuesday
night.
Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker read a poem by Buddha and
invited Keaton and his family to a Titans home game on New Year's Eve.
UFC fighter Dana White invited Keaton to
come to Vegas and hang out at UFC headquarters. Justin Bieber even posted a
video expressing his support and called Keaton a "legend." Chris Evans wrote on
Twitter: "Stay strong, Keaton. Don't let them make
you turn cold. I promise it gets better. While those punks at your school are
deciding what kind of people they want to be in this world, how would you and
your mom like to come to the Avengers premiere in LA next year?" He also
received messages of support from Ryan Seacrest, Millie Bobby Brown, Mark Ruffalo,
Dr. Phil, Mark Hamill, Snoop Dogg, and Billy Baldwin, a person whom I'm sure
Keaton has heard of. Of course, very few stories in 2017 come without a little
controversy and this story, unfortunately, is no different.
Activist Tariq Nasheed pointed out that Keaton's mother, Kimberly, may have some
issues with bullying herself. He wrote: "That viral video of Keaton Jones
talking about being bullied is heartbreaking, and I feel sympathetic
towards that child. But his mom, Kimberly on the other hand, is a suspected racist
who makes very problematic posts bullying Black protesters #TheIrony." He's
referring to these photos on Facebook featuring the Confederate flag and post
denigrating Black Lives Matter protesters. In the caption she writes:
"Dear butt hurt Americans, if you aren't bleeding, no bones are sticking out and
you can breathe, STOP crying! For the love, some folks clearly never picked a switch.
And before y'all start talking to me about metaphorical, emotional, financial
or historical blood and brokenness, don't. Join a group.
#yallneedsomeporchtherapy" And MMA fighter Joe Schilling posted
this conversation he had with someone who claims to be Kimberly Jones. He wrote
to her: "This is an opportunity for you, not your son. You just used your son's pain
as a platform. Really, really sad and it's your son who will suffer smfh. I'm no
longer interested in being involved whatsoever. Shame on you."
The Kimberly Jones account replied: "What happened to us whites sticking together
and helping one of another against the predator?" Now, Schilling acknowledges that
the person that he was talking to might not be Kimberly Jones, but the
Jones family has not denied it." The most chilling accusation, however, is
against Keaton himself, although it is still in the rumor department. Candy_
AppleRed1 on Twitter said: "The person who revealed the photos of Keaton racists
family last night also said that Keaton repeatedly called a kid in school the
N-word on several different occasions. And that the kids got on Keaton's as*
to make him stop. So is it really bullying... Lakyn Jones responded to the
allegations of racism on Twitter, writing" "My family will continue to support each
other. You all can hate and tweet all you want but our faith can't be shaken." Now,
two days after the video went viral, people are responding on social media to
these crazy accusations. Jamilah Lemieux wrote: "Even before Keaton's family was
revealed to be a steaming pile of Trumpettes,
I felt something gnawing at me about the situation. I'll only say that the grace
and empathy that Black folks offer up to others is something to behold." John Mayer
even wrote a thread about what this means about modern society, writing: "48
hours into the story and a backlash has begun. We're introduced to the inevitable
grey area of a situation. The unified take begins to splinter under its own
weight. Pay attention to what you're thinking
about and how you're thinking about it here. The fingerprint we leave on the
situation will be the cleanest one we've left all year. How we play this out is
who we are." Patton Oswalt was asked if he'd be
withdrawing his support given this new information and he replied: "Keaton didn't
get to choose the family that raised and shaped him, you smug ghoul. How about
showing him that people of all races and creeds can come together? Change things,
maybe? Show him a better world?" Racism accusations aside, the video has
certainly struck a chord online, and a GoFundMe page set up on Kimberly Jones'
behalf has raised $60,000 in under two days. Now, regardless of who the bully
really is here, there's still wisdom in Keaton's emotional words. And those who are
being bullied need to know that they have support and that it does get better.
In the end, I don't think we should be bullies to the people that bully. We
should be there to support them and create a conversation, because that's
what's gonna heal our society and community right now. We don't necessarily
need to give them money, but we can be there for them in other
ways, if this is all true, of course. So, I guess the story will continue to be
revealed. And we can't blame this young kid if his mom's a racist, but if he did
say the N-word then that is a scary thing, but he's still a kid so he's just
learning from his environment. I don't know. I guess I'm in the middle. I'm in
the middle. 2017 is complicated, y'all. Alright a lot of you will have different
opinions. Let us know what you think about this story in the COMMENTS below
and be sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more of What's Trending.