Hugh Jackman sends message of support to bullied schoolboy Quaden Bayles
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, has also expressed support for the boy on social media.
Friday 21 February 2020 14:25, UK
Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman has posted a message of support to a distraught nine-year-old boy who is being bullied because of his dwarfism.
Quaden Bayles' mother appealed for advice as she posted footage of her son in floods of tears after picking him up from school.
The boy can be heard saying "give me a knife, I'm going to kill myself" and "I want to die" in the video.
Jackman, who starred in The Greatest Showman and Les Miserables, posted a video on Twitter after the clip of Quaden went viral.
The actor, who also played the superhero Wolverine in the X-Men films, says in the footage: "Quaden, you are stronger than you know mate, and no matter what, you've got a friend in me.
"So, everyone lets please be kind to each other, bullying is not OK.
"Life is hard enough, so let's remember, every person in front of us is facing some kind of battle, so let's just be kind."
Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, also commented on the footage after it was shared on social media.
He wrote: "The cruelty is as astonishing as it is heartbreaking."
Walking Dead actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who plays Negan in the TV series, also shared a message of support after seeing the video of Quaden online.
He wrote: "My man, I don't know your name, I don't know your mum's name, but I saw your video.
"What I want you to know is that you have friends, me included.
"You haven't met me yet, but we'll see if we can change that for one."
Quaden's mother Yarraka, from Queensland in Australia, says in her video that she filmed her son after witnessing an incident as she picked him up from school on Wednesday.
She says: "We just went to pick him up and saw a student patting him on the head and making fun of his height... he ran to the car in hysterics because he doesn't want me to make a scene at the school."
Quaden, who was born with achondroplasia dwarfism, a genetic condition that affects a person's growth, can be seen in the back of her car in the footage.
He says: "I'm going to die right now... give me a knife, I'm going to kill myself. Give me a knife now so I can stab myself in the heart. You watch me."
He later adds: "I want someone to kill me... I want to die."
His mother says "this is what bullying does" before explaining that she has to "constantly keep my eye on him because of the suicide attempts".
She adds: "So now we have a severely suicidal child who is sick of the bullying that is every single day that he attends school or is in public.
"It's every single f****** day and we're sick of it."
The Indigenous All Stars rugby league team also posted a message for Quaden after the video of him was shared on social media.
Inviting him to lead them on to the field ahead of a game on Saturday, they said: "We know you're going through a hard time right now, but the boys are here, we've got your back.
"Just make sure you're thinking the right things because we want you around... it'll mean more to us than you, bud, just make sure you're looking after yourself."