Keaton Jones’ pleas to his mother of why a person would ever bully someone else captured the broken hearts of a nation as the clip went viral. People from all walks of life shared Keaton’s tearful words, and celebrities from Snoop Dogg to Cardi B and nearly the whole WWE roster wanted Keaton to know that things get better. Even LeBron James invited him to a Cavs practice.
As the video continued to pick up steam, the Tennessee Titans football team organized a meeting with the teen, and Captain America himself, Chris Evans, invited him to the premiere of Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet. It was heartwarming.
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/939976020479938562
The cherry on top of Keaton’s newfound fame and friends was a college fund set up on GoFundMe which raised over $57,000 in a matter of a weekend. Now, with the news coming out that Keaton’s mother Kimberly Jones has a history of posting problematic things on Facebook. She’s ranted against Black Lives Matter, posed proudly with a Confederate flag, and now people that supported Keaton are wondering if it’s all a big sham coming from someone who has allegedly done quite a bit of bullying herself towards people that are different than her.
This sent legions of furious people to decry the active GoFundMe page, which prompted Joseph Lam, the man who started the GoFundMe (and who used a Ronald Reagan quote on a socialistic platform to raise money for an expensive college tuition that the government is moving to de-subsidize in lieu of tax cuts to the rich) to freeze it for the time being.
“As many of you know I paused the donations as well as the comments. As I sit back and read these comments and watched the video again I feel I have to make this update. THIS IS NOT ABOUT THE MOM!! However passing judgement on her before you know her is a form of bullying. Condemnation before evaluation is the ultimate form of ignorance. I can’t even say for sure that any of whats being said is true. I don’t know the family personally and never claimed to have known them.
This is about a kid who’s been bullied and not just one kid, Keaton, there are many unspoken cases about kids being bullied. We have to be the voice for the voiceless. In the video I saw a kid crying not just for himself but for others. To me thats a kid with a heart of gold and deserves praise. Im hoping that we can turn the money into something good whether it be for private school or college fund. Im in touch with GFM on how to proceed at this point. Thank you every one that donated.”
Lam’s statement seems somewhat obtuse. Will the money still go to Keaton? According to TMZ, another GoFundMe for Keaton’s Christmas gifts was started recently, but shut down by GoFundMe “due to fraud concerns.” Now GoFundMe is trying to find out what’s real and what’s not as donations are shut down.
(Via E Online)