A video of a 9-year-old Australian boy crying in the backseat of his mother's car after being bullied for his dwarfism has gone viral, and now several stars have come forward to support him. The celebrities include Hugh Jackman, who assured Quaden Bayles that he is his friend.
"Quaden, you are stronger than you know, mate," Jackman says in a video shared to Twitter on Thursday. "And no matter what, you've got a friend in me."
The "Wolverine" star was responding to footage initially shared on Facebook by Quaden's mother Yarraka. In the video, Quaden asks for a knife so that he can kill himself.
"This is what bullying does," Yarraka says in the video. "Can you please educate your children, your families, your friends? Because all it takes is for one more instance, and you wonder why kids are killing themselves."
The reach of the video was far and wide, with an outpouring of support flooding social media. Comedian Brad Williams, who was also born with dwarfism, set up a fundraiser to send Quaden to California's Disneyland, CNN reported.
"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 wrote on the GoFundMe page. "Let’s show Quaden and others, that there is good in the world and they are worthy of it."
The National Rugby League's Indigenous All-Stars team is also backing Quaden by inviting him to lead the team onto the field before their preseason match on Saturday.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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