If you were boo-hoo'ing about the bullied kid who went viral, Keaton Jones, or donating to his random Go Fund Me, the tables have definitely turned. And we can all thank the P.I.'s at Black Twitter. Deets on Keaton's seemingly racist family and their possibly fraudulent activities inside...
Ugh. Just when we were all the way in our feelings over poor little Keaton Jones after his extremely emotional video recounting his bullying experience at school, we find out there's more to the story. Way more.
After an outpouring of love, support and offers to fly out from celebs and people all around the net, somebody did some digging. Keaton's mother Kimberly Jones, who originally shot the video, was quite public about her feelings about black athletes and the south on her Facebook page. The same black athletes and southerners who were more than happy to offer up their time and money to make Keaton feel better.
Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano (@BroadwayJay2) spent the day with viral bullying victim Keaton Jones https://t.co/p26Jmwf5Bzpic.twitter.com/iNrztCMmWl
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) December 11, 2017
Kimberly shared pics of the Tennessee family holding up the confederate flag and statuses shading black athletes who were kneeling during the national anthem. Oh?!
Not only that, an Instagram account claiming to be her popped up and athletes like professional MMA boxer Joe Schilling reached out to her via that. According to Joe, the person on the other end, who claimed to be Kimberly, said she'd rather receive money to the Go Fund Me she started than his offer for little Keaton to come visit him.
When he asked what the money was for, the person said for Christmas presents because she's "poor."
Oh?!
The convo quickly turned racial with the person asking Joe why he's not helping out his fellow white person. And more racist statement were spewed from that account.
Joe put the account on blast (swipe above) and the internets lost it.
Now, that Instagram account and that Go Fund Me (which raised $58,249) are in question about their authenticity. Go Fund Me shut down the campaign, as well as a second one that was started. Neither were started by Kimberly herself, but by people allegedly "close to her."
Another Instagram account claiming to be Keaton himself posted a message saying he apologizes for his mother's actions. Keaton's sister, whose Twitter has been verified, claims the accounts are not their mother's.
But since the Facebook account that posted a few racist statements has been confirmed as hers, that was enough for folks to turn their backs on the situation. Keaton was a trending topic on Twitter all day Monday.
Many celebs who first reached out now say they are disgusted by the mother, but still are here for Keaton because he's innocent in this. Others are washing their hands of the whole suspect situation, calling into question whether this was all just one big scam. In the meantime, there's always plenty of bullying causes and families who have lost children to bullycide who you can reach out to. A few are below:
Keaton out here gettin a $100k bag from GoFundMe and his mom a racist and this lil boy who got bullied and is wise beyond his years ain't even get a dollar or a tweet from y'all pic.twitter.com/3edlyS1jXr
— Karim (@karimtbe) December 11, 2017
My point is simple: you can be ticked at Keaton Jones and his momma. But are we more mad at them and silent about Ashawnty Davis? Never heard of this 12-year-old Black girl? She's dead. Why? Killed herself. Why? BULLYING. It's real, folks.
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) December 12, 2017
Humanity aint ish in 2017.