A 9-year-old boy’s sad bullying story took social media by storm this week, and now many people are looking for more details on Quaden Bayles and his mother, Yarraka Bayles. With false reports running rampant, some are finding themselves confused by the story. According to the fact-checking site Snopes, Yarraka is indeed Quaden’s mother.
Quaden Bayles found viral fame this week when his mother shared a video of him crying on social media. In the clip, Quaden said that he has been mercilessly bullied by his peers, to the point where he now had suicidal thoughts.
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Social media snapped into action for Quaden. Comedian Brad Williams set up a GoFundMe page for him to get a trip to Disneyland, and it has earned just under $460,000 at the time of this writing. At the same time, some posts began insinuating that Quaden is actually a grown man with dwarfism posing as a child to earn money.
“Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” says the people who believe #QuadenBayles is 18 because of some Facebook post with no actual proof. Just search a bit deeper and you’ll find the truth. Stop spreading lies. He’s 9. pic.twitter.com/ovQezLvv4t
— 🌷✭ (@Trashnaldo) February 21, 2020
Reporters at Snopes were able to disprove this rumor, in the process giving fans more information on Quaden and Yarraka. Yarraka Bayles has operated social media profiles for her son over the years in the hopes of raising awareness of how people with dwarfism and Indigenous Australians are bullied and mistreated. She also posted photos of him on her own accounts, though now all of their platforms have been made private or deleted.
Yarraka also runs a dwarfism advocacy group called Stand Tall 4 Dwarfism, which she launched in 2014. She and Quaden have been on the news in the past, with some videos showing him as young as 4 years old.
Before going private, Yarraka shared two posts addressing the accusations against her and her son. One came from none other than Cardi B, who made a video condemning those who were going after Quaden online.
He’s 9 .. Please do your research .. My god, you were finessed by bullies which its ironic because now you’re bullying him.. 🙌👍😂 #QuadenBayles pic.twitter.com/zoM4Ds044d
— Manda Liz (@manda_jackman69) February 21, 2020
“I really don’t think that he’s lying on his age. And just because there’s video of him flossing money and acting all gangster and acting all cool, it doesn’t mean that kids do not pick on him,” she said. “Come on now.”
The other post came from a user who had followed Quaden’s story for years before this week’s viral stories. She noted that neither Quaden nor Yarraka had asked for donations or set up the GoFundMe page.
“Never did she ask for money… That being said, another Fellow Little Person did reach out to them, which is a famous comedian. He wanted to turn Quaden’s frown upside down and created the GoFund me account to take the Australian boy to Disneyland,” she wrote. “Now that was his doing. That came from his heart… Never did they say they were broke. Never did they ask for this.”
