Hollywood celebs lend support to bullied 9-year-old

Sydney, February 21

An Australian boy with dwarfism who was bullied to the point he wanted to “die right now” has received a deluge of celebrity messages and donations for a trip to Disneyland.

A video of nine-year-old Quaden Bayles uploaded to Facebook by his mother showed him crying and repeatedly saying he wanted to die after being bullied at school.

The clip had been watched more than 16 million times by Friday and the boy’s mother, Yarraka Bayles, said she was sharing it to raise awareness of the impact bullying was having on her child.

“I’ve got a son that is suicidal almost every single day,” she says in the footage.

Support for the boy built as the video spread online, and a GoFundMe page started by US comedian Brad Williams had raised over $150,000 to give Bayles a trip to Disneyland in California by Friday.

“This isn’t just for Quaden, this is for anyone who has been bullied in their lives and told they weren’t good enough,” Williams, who was also born with achondroplasia — the most common type of dwarfism — wrote on the fundraiser page.

Williams said extra funds would be given to anti-bullying charities.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman and NBA player Enes Kanter were among the hundreds of thousands posting support for Bayles.

The Indigenous #NRLAllStars are behind you Quaden! 👊🏽❤️ pic.twitter.com/52RLy8SrSd

— NRL (@NRL) February 20, 2020

“Quaden you are stronger than you know, mate. And no matter what, you have a friend in me,” Jackman said in a video posted to his Twitter account.

Quaden – you’ve got a friend in me. #BeKind @LokelaniHiga https://t.co/8dr3j2z8Sy pic.twitter.com/jyqtZYC953

— Hugh Jackman (@RealHughJackman) February 20, 2020

He said: “Quaden, you are stronger than you know, and no matter what, you’ve got a friend in me. Everyone, let’s please be kind to each other. Bullying is not okay, period. Life is hard enough. Let’s just remember: every person in front of us is facing some kind of battle, so let’s just be kind.” Morgan said in a video of his own: “What I want you to know is that you have friends me included. I am your buddy. You haven’t met me yet, but we’ll see if we can change that. Maybe your mom can DM me.”  “The Walking Dead” star continued: “You have a bunch of friends out here, out in the world that you haven’t met yet. We’re here, we got your back. You need to know that. It’ll get better.” Other stars who have sent support to Quaden included Jon Bernthal, who urged the boy to “stay strong the world is watching and you have so much beautiful power. From me and my boys we are with you and we thank you.”  Comedian Brad Williams, who also has Achondroplasia, decided to raise $10,000 in order to send both Quaden and his mother to Disneyland Resort in California.

“This makes me sick. I’ve been trying to get in touch with this family. If any of my Australian fans know this family, Please tell this wonderful boy that he has me and an army of friends all over the world that support me…. I’ve set up a GoFundMe to send brave Quaden and his mother to Disneyland. Let’s show a bullied kid that he is loved!” In over 24 hours it had more than 15.2 million views, and continuing

Bayles will also lead the Indigenous All-Stars out onto the field in their rugby league clash with the Maori All Stars in Queensland on Saturday. – Agencies