Family of Bullying Victim Keaton Jones Thanks Social Media for Overwhelming Support

After Keaton Jones’ heart wrenching account of bullying went viral over the weekend, the [...]

By Tania Hussain

After Keaton Jones' heart wrenching account of bullying went viral over the weekend, the Tennessee native has received an outpouring of support from the whole world, and now his family is speaking out.

On Sunday, Keaton's sister Lakyn took to Twitter to thank everyone who shared the kind messages of support to her brother.

"Apologies again to those tweets I can't get to," she wrote. "My mentions are flooded and I'm trying my best. We thank everyone for the love and support."

Prior to Lakyn's post, his mother also shared a message on Facebook Saturday afternoon, writing how overcome she with love her family was.

"Friends, overwhelmed is the understatement of the world right now," she wrote. "I love each of you for what you are doing, but there is literally no way I can respond or even read all of the messages. I know several of you have sent me groups or pages or individuals that you feel I really need to read [and] reply to, when I say even those are at least 100s, [and] I've gotten thousands besides those, it's insane."

She went on to write that she is not "trying to be to be rude, or ungrateful," adding, "I'm just overwhelmed [and] at the end of the day, this isn't new for us."

Prioritizing her children first, she continues that she is "humbled by the voice" her son has been given, but that he's "still just a little boy."

"He's a little boy who desperately wants acceptance, that I have to try to find a way to navigate him through the difference in true acceptance [and] attention. I know God has His hand in this [and] I trust that the right things will happen in the right time. In the meantime, bear with us."

The video, which was initially shared by Keaton's mother Kimberly on Friday to Facebook, shows the young boy sitting in his family's car, crying. Disclosing to his mother how he is treated at school, he tells her of the abuse he endures, including how he is fun of his looks and social status, as well subjected to social humility such as milk being poured on him and food being forced into his clothing.

In a message accompanying the video, Kimberly 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 video has raked in more than 20 million views, with Keaton receiving support from the likes of Captain America himself, Chris Evans, Ryan Seacrest, Cardi B, Snoop Dogg, Mark Ruffalo, Mark Hamill, Millie Bobby Brown, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ed Asner and the Tennessee Titans, to name a few.

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