It's been just four days since the video of a sobbing Keaton Jones told the world about the bullies at his school who mocked him so much that he feared lunchtimes at school. The video went viral, with a huge amount of celebrities supporting the Tennessee tween and helping raise awareness about bullying, and some even offering to take the 11-year-old to red-carpet events and special coaching sessions. However, it didn't take long for people to start condemning Keaton's mother, who posted the video to her Facebook, after pictures of her smiling and holding the Confederate flag were discovered on her profile. Keaton's video has cast attention to the mother-of-three's personal Facebook page leading to people finding the old social media posts. The Confederate flag is to some a token of Southern pride and to others a symbol of racism, slavery and white supremacy. Another picture of Keaton's older sister Katyn was also found on her Twitter account of Keaton and his siblings holding another Confederate flag, as well as the American flag and plastic guns. The pictures saw a backlash against Keaton's family, who were accused of being racist. She since hid her Facebook account from people being able to view it. Now, Kimberly has spoken out to defend the images during a pre-recorded interview on CBS This Morning. When asked about the images, she replied: "The only two photos – the only two photos on my entire planet that I am anywhere near a Confederate flag... It was ironic. It was funny." "It didn't have anything to do with racist intent?" the interviewer asked. "No. No. Absolutely not. I've said I spent most of my life being bullied and judged because I wasn't racist," Kimberly replied. Her daughter Lakyn also posted something similar on Twitter: "Those who know me and my family know we aren’t racist. My brother doesn’t say the “N” word. Please leave it alone." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Lakyn_Jones/status/940358338306564096]] People also criticised the mother for the multiple GoFundMe accounts that had popped up since Keaton's video went viral, accusing her of profiting from her son's misfortune. However, she explained that they were all fake, bar the one that had received $58,000 in donations before also being shut down. Kimberly urged people to remember the matter at heart, and continue to share their support for her bullied son. Keaton, also in the CBS interview, said he was glad the video was circulated so widely around the internet. [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYEj9snU838]] "It made me feel like I had accomplished something real. Something that could actually change the world," he said. The middle-schooler explained how he thought of making the video himself after a particularly troubling experience at school.

"I had enough of it," he said. "They had said that someone was going to beat me up in lunch so I texted my mom and I said 'what do I do here?'"

Keaton's middle school is planning to hold an anti-bullying assembly on Monday, though the 11-year-old doesn't plan on returning to classes until after the holidays in January.

In a heartbreaking video, middle school student Keaton Jones describes his painful experiences getting bullied. "Just out of curiosity, why do they bully?" he pleads. "What's the point of it? Why do you find joy in taking innocent people and finding a way to be mean to them? It's not okay". [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a49beT37Bc0]] With tears rolling down his cheeks, he shares his distressful story. At school, bullies call him ugly and say he has no friends. Sometimes the torment turns physical, and they pour milk on him, or shove "ham down his clothes." “I don’t like that they do it to me," he says, while sobbing. “People that are different don’t need to be criticized about it. It’s not their fault.” [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/GalGadot/status/940261911517544448]] Keaton's mother, Kimberly Jones, posted the video on Facebook, and it got over 20 million views. Celebrities, athletes and public figures rallied to support the Tennessee boy. Chris Evans invited him to the premiere of Avengers: Infinity War. Hailee Steinfeld invited him to be her date at the premiere of Pitch Perfect 3. Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano spent the day with Keaton, calling him his "new best bud." Mark Hamill, Millie Bobby Brown, Gal Gadot, Snoop Dogg - pretty much every famous person - tweeted messages of support. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BroadwayJay2/status/940013198027214848]] However, this being 2017, the backlash came quickly. Internet detectives combed through Kimberly Jones' posts on social media, and found offensive, potentially racist content, such as photos displaying Confederate flags and crass critiques of Colin Kaepernick's protest against police brutality. Rumors spread that kids bullied Keaton because he called them racial slurs, and many people pointed out Kimberly's hypocrisy. “My heart goes out to anyone dealing with bullying, but wassup with the racist images on Keaton Jones' mom's facebook page? Wouldn't that kinda make her a bully too?” tweeted actor Slink Johnson. But the best response came from comedian Billy Eichner: "Well I'm inviting Keaton to the Golden Globes and making him sit with the cast of Get Out." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/nickstevenson11/status/940320776640712705]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/pattonoswalt/status/940279069387526151]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/RealDLHughley/status/940323371232796672]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/billyeichner/status/940303966692196352]] But perhaps the most disturbing revelation came from MMA fighter Joe Schilling. He contacted Kimberly Jones on Instagram (or at least, an account purporting to be Kimberly Jones). He invited Keaton to one of his shows - man, this kid is popular! - but the response was not what he expected. He shared a video on Instagram describing their interaction, with the caption: "Go look at her ig watch her story posts she just running a money scam. Really really sad and disgusting. Tagging celebrities trying to get them to donate to her go fund me account smfh." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BckQIaSln1o/]] "I feel pretty stupid right now," says Joe in the video. "I was pretty moved by Keaton Jones video so I reached out to his mom and was going to bring him out to LA for a Bellator event that's coming up, big show, and and introduce him to fighters, be his friend, and she just wants money. She just wants me to share her GoFund me account." When he asked what the GoFundMe account was for, she replied, "You know Christmas is coming and I'm a single mother, blah, blah, money's tight." The GoFundMe account in Kimberly Jones' name received $58,000 in donations, but is currently suspended. It's not clear if it was legitimate. Fox News contacted Kimberly through direct message on Instagram, and she disputed Schilling's claims, calling his accusations "untrue." "I did not tell him that I would rather have donations instead of the help from celebrities," wrote Kimberly. When asked why she took down her Facebook page, Kimberly simply replied, "I've taken that down for a reason," but did not elaborate on what the reason was. (I'm guessing it had something to do with all those photos of Confederate flags and "Dear Butt Hurt Americans" rants?) [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/JohnMayer/status/940288064181563392]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/ParsonJames/status/940334374406430720]] According to Fox News, Kimberly wrote a message defending her family on her Instagram account (which has since been deleted):"I love my kids: Ya'll people do not know me or my family. Did y'all know that my son Keaton was spit on in school, picked on by teachers, that supposed to be there for him??? I'm guessing y'all didn't because y'all wanna steady Judge me and say I'm using him for money that's false." This situation got messy in a hurry, but at least it brought attention to the serious issue of bullying. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/ParsonJames/status/940334374406430720]]  

Unfortunately, bullying is a problem that many children will go through during their time at school. Even if they have the support of kind friends and attentive family members, it is difficult to share a personal experience so painful, and even harder to try and solve the problem. Add on top of that the usual obstacles that kids face during this time in their lives, as they grow up and face new challenges, it can have a significant impact. One boy from Knoxville, Tennessee, has found the courage to share his story. Not only did Keaton Jones tell his mother, Kimberly, the bullying he was facing at school, but he decided to create a video that could be spread further. Initially uploading the heartbreaking footage to Facebook, the video depicts his plea to the bullies themselves, asking them why exactly they do this to others. "Just out of curiosity, why do they bully? What's the point of it?" he asked. "Why do you find joy in taking innocent people and finding a way to be mean to them. It's not okay". [[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a49beT37Bc0]] He then goes on to describe how they taunt him for his appearance, mock him, and even poured milk on him during one incident. On top of this, he's not the only one they target. Keaton's plea then comes to its conclusion as he summarises what he thinks about bullying. "I don't like that they do it to me and I for sure don't like that they do it to other people because it's not okay." "People that are different, don't need to be criticized about it. It's not their fault. If you are made fun of just don't let it bother you. Stay strong I guess. It's hard. But it'll probably get better one day" It has since been posted to YouTube and Twitter, gaining an even greater reach as various celebrities started to come out to support and otherwise help Keaton. The video started to trend on Twitter, where it amassed 75,000 retweets and nearly 200,000 likes just on one upload, with far more gained from the re-posting from people like Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, Hailee Steinfeld, Mark Ruffalo, and Katy Perry. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/MarkRuffalo/status/939954148853866497]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/milliebbrown/status/939641495895887872]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/ddlovato/status/940025541079441409]] Chris Evans also offered Keaton and his mother the opportunity to be their guests at the Avengers: Infinity War premiere in Los Angeles next year. In addition to this, Hailee Steinfeld asked Keaton to be her date to the Pitch Perfect 3 premiere this week. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/HaileeSteinfeld/status/939984594459279360]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/939976020479938562]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Lakyn_Jones/status/939977569163673601]] Mark Hamill, who will be starring in Star Wars: The Last Jedi this month, tweeted in response: "Don't waste time wondering why a bully would be so mean - They're sad people who think hurting others will make them feel better because they really don't like themselves" It just goes to show that despite how awful Keaton feels, there are plenty of people out there that understand what he's going through and are willing to help him on his journey.  

The mother of Quaden Bayles, a nine-year-old boy born with a rare form of dwarfism, who was bullied at school, claims that her son is still being targeted and tormented by trolls.

Young Quaden, who hails from Brisbane in Australia went viral on social media back in February, after his mom, Yarraka Bayle, posted a video showing him weeping uncontrollably.

She captioned the upsetting footage: "This is the [impact] of bullying! I seriously don’t know what else to do [sic]."

Watch the original video of Quaden below (warning: some viewers may find this distressing):

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/2K880dgb-izxriqNH.mp4||2K880dgb]]

In the video itself, Yarraka states:

"I've just picked my son up from school, witnessed a bullying episode, rang the principal, and I want people to know - parents, educators, teachers - this is the effect that bullying has. This is what bullying does", before Quaden says, "Give me a knife, I'm going to kill myself."

Not long after the clip was uploaded to Facebook, Quaden received an outpouring of support from viewers who sympathized with his plight.

[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10164244773260693]]

For example, X-Men actor Hugh Jackman sent him a touching message of friendship, and while the comedian Brad Williams managed to raise more than $70,000 via GoFundMe to send Quaden on a trip to Disneyland.

[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/TeamQuaden/photos/pcb.3393383594102214/3393383524102221/]]

However, per News.com.au, Yarraka claims that trolls are still targeting Quaden and her family.

In a statement made to the Disability Royal Commission on Monday, Yarraka stated that she receives hateful messages "still to this day, every day."

She stated that there are still people online out who "think it’s their business to make comments... lots of death threats... physical harm against my children, my granddaughter."

[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/TeamQuaden/photos/pcb.3393383594102214/3393383520768888/]]

She added that she originally uploaded her video out of frustration with the way the name-calling and taunting of her had been poorly handled for a number of years, adding that she now wants to introduce an initiative called Quaden's Law to raise awareness of the harmful effects of bullying.

Yarraka told the commission:

"I honestly feel like it took for a viral video for us to be able to get the support we need. It just felt like there was not enough being done, so I just stopped complaining.

"I felt like I was being more of a burden or, you know, they’re looking at us like we’re a couple of sooks, and we should just get on with it, and not complain, or report any of these incidents."

[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/TeamQuaden/photos/pcb.3393383594102214/3393383514102222/]]

According to News.com.au, the Royal Commission is currently holding its seventh public hearing on the issue of the treatment of school students with disabilities in Australia.

A 10-year-old boy has received messages of support from around the world after his mom revealed how bullies had left him in tears over his Halloween costume.

Taking to Facebook prior to her son's school Halloween party, mom Jill Struckman revealed that young Evan had chosen to go as Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark from the Iron Man and Avengers movies.

The 45-year-old Missouri mom wrote: "I hope his school is ready for this guy. He only answers to 'Tony' or 'Mr. Stark'."

In the proud mom's post, she shared several photos of Evan looking every bit the billionaire playboy - complete with waistcoat, beard, and Stark's snazzy high-tech glasses.

And before we continue, I just want to say that Evan looked AWESOME! As a fan of the MCU movies, he's a spot-on Tony Stark:

However, in a heartbreaking follow-up post, mom Jill revealed that just "20 minutes" after Evan had left home for the schoolbus, she received a call from her son.

"Apparently some kids on the bus (who weren’t even wearing costumes) told him he looked stupid. Evan got to school and immediately went to the bathroom and washed his face," she wrote. "When he called he was crying and soooo hurt that He didn’t even want to stay for his party.

"Here’s what my little Tony Stark looks like now. We both have swollen eyes from crying and are on our way to try to find ice cream."

Alongside a photo of her upset son, she added: "Kids need to understand that WORDS hurt."

Jill's post quickly went viral on the social media platform, and Evan was flooded with compliments from strangers. As of this writing, the post has received over 260,000 shares and more than 1,200 comments.

One support commented: "What a lucky Mom you are, riding with Tony Stark!! Evan, don't let those self-conscious Bullies get into your head. Bullies are insecure people who are not satisfied with themselves. You are the Best!!"

A second added: "Tell him they were just jealous because he looked so much better than they did!"

And a third wrote: "Well as Tony did, he will rise above them all and they’ll all feel sh***y about themselves for treating this little dude as such."

After going viral, Jill provided an update and revealed that Evan decided that he did want to go to the party. She wrote:

"If you've seen my posts this morning you know what a roller coaster it has been... I have an update that I would like to share... After going to Starbucks and talking through his feelings, Evan decided he didn’t want to miss his school party!!! So we went home redid his AWESOME makeup and matched right back into school!

"He ended up getting that ride he wanted after all. He also learned some valuable lessons today."

She added, "thanks for all the sweet words" and "I do appreciate you all".

Jill said that Evan never wants to make anybody feel the way he did, and that he "let other people’s opinions weigh so heavily on him".

Evan, you looked like a true superhero!

Featured image credit: AF archive / Alamy