Advertisement

Hollywood-Supported Bullied Boy With Dwarfism Will Donate Funds To Charity

Bruce Haring
·4 min read

Click here to read the full article.

UPDATE: A young boy bullied because of his dwarfism is donating the funds raised to send him to Disneyland to charity.

Australia native Quaden Bayles won the support of Hollywood and the world after a video circulated that showed his misery at being bullied. Many donated through a GoFundMe page set up by comedian Brad Williams to support Bayles, raising nearly $474,000 out of a requested $10,000.

More from Deadline

The family now says it will donate the money to two charities: Dwarfism Awareness Australia and the Balunu Healing Foundation, which supports indigenous youth in Australia.

“What kid wouldn’t want to go to Disneyland?” she told NITV. “To escape to anywhere that is fun that doesn’t remind him of his day-to-day challenges. But my sister said, ‘You know what, let’s get back to the real issue.’ This little fella has been bullied. How many suicides, black or white, in our society have happened due to bullying?”

The online fundraising campaign was initially marred by a rumor that Bayles was actually 18-years-old instead of nine. The allegation has since been debunked.

EARLIER: A heartbreaking video showing the agony of a 9-year-old Australian boy with dwarfism suffering from school bullying has touched the heart of Hollywood.

The video was posted online by the mother of Quaden Bayles, the boy who was shown in the video wishing someone would kill him after terrible taunting by his schoolmates.

Bayles has made news before on bullying. Snopes says that In 2015, a video report from from the Australian news station Studio 10 featured then 4-year-old Quaden:

Wolverine star Hugh Jackman spoke out on Twitter, telling the boy, “You have a friend in me.” Jackman, one of Australia’s biggest stars, also asked his fans to be vigilant against all childhood bullying. “Life is hard enough,” Jackman said.

Star Wars star Luke Skywalker, aka Mark Hamill, also chimed in and added: “The cruelty is as astonishing as it is heartbreaking.”

The Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan jumped into the fray on Twitter, telling Quaden, “My man, I don’t know your name, I don’t know your mom’s name, but I saw your video, what I want you to know is you have friends, me included, I am your buddy.

“You haven’t met me yet, but we’ll see if we can change that for one, maybe your mom can DM me, you have a bunch of friends out here, out in the world that you haven’t met yet. We’re here and we’ve got your back and you need to know that, it’ll get better.

“As a dad of a 9-year-old, kids can be horrible and that’s because their parents aren’t doing their job…It’s going to get better…I promise it will,” he says.

Beyond the messages of support, the story will apparently have a happy ending.

Comedian Brad Williams, who also has the dwarfism condition, started a GoFundMe page for the boy and his family, with the goal of raising money to send them to Disneyland. So far, the page has raised $431,000 out of an initial goal of $10,000.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.