When Kimberly Jones, a mother who lives just outside Knoxville, Tennessee posted a video to Facebook of her son Keaton crying about being bullied in middle school, she probably did not expect thousands of people, including famous athletes, to rally to his defense. But the clip spread and spread, and before long NFL stars were tweeting about it and University of Tennessee football players were vowing to visit him.
Here’s the heartbreaking video:
Thousands of people have shared and commented on the video across social media, and it seems it may have reached the sports world thanks to former NFL receiver Donte Stallworth.
This brought tears to my eyes. We’ve gotta do better as humans! Thank you to all who work on anti-bullying campaigns. 🙏🏿 cc: @Carlos_Dunlap https://t.co/gP7JchKOWK
— Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) December 9, 2017
Stallworth asked a couple Tennessee-based athletes for help spreading the world, and Titans tight end Delanie Walker quickly responded with a video message in which he read Keaton a poem and offered him tickets to a game.
@DonteStallworth @Lakyn_Jones hopefully my video and the tweets that Keaton have been getting brings awareness to bullying and how serious it is in our school system pic.twitter.com/1Dujv3RxA5
— Delanie Walker (@delaniewalker82) December 9, 2017
Another big-name NFLer, Eagles receiver Torrey Smith, also chimed in, saying the bullying Keaton described “hurts my heart.”
https://twitter.com/TorreySmithWR/status/939661794791919616
Pro athlete weren’t the only ones to get involved. Several Volunteers players spoke up for Keaton on Twitter, with sophomore receiver Tyler Byrd and freshman receiver Jordan Murphy promising to visit his school, apparently with some teammates. 
We going to the middle school next Tuesday show young Man some love we will also TWITTER LIVE some of it so everyone can show there love and support #vols #StopBullying @cboystunna3 @BroadwayJay2 @JKShuttlesworth @smithtrey98
— Tyler Byrd (@D1fuzzymuffin17) December 9, 2017
Redshirt freshman quarterback Jarrett Guarantano reached out as well.
Please let his mother know that we are trying to reach out. Keaton has some friends on the football team that would love to spend some time with him. https://t.co/tj1ZqDM4KD
— Jarrett Guarantano✞ (@JayGuarantano) December 9, 2017
It’s great that Keaton is getting some love on social media. It’s even better that the athletes kids look up to are speaking up about bullying. They’re signaling to victims that someone cares and signaling to bullies that picking on others isn’t cool.
