How misinformation about Quaden Bayles spread and led to calls for one senior journalist to resign

A nine-year-old boy with dwarfism has fallen victim to false and nasty misinformation about his age after he rose to fame in a viral video about bullying.

Quaden Bayles’ mother Yarraka filmed the schoolboy crying in the car, where he said he wanted to end his life after being severely bullied by fellow classmates. 

In the wake of the heartbreaking footage, Quaden has been inundated with support from celebrities, sports people and musicians across the globe.

But false rumours questioning Quaden’s age and the Bayles family have spread online, with well-known media figure Miranda Devine jumping on the toxic bandwagon.

Quaden Bayles, a nine-year-old boy with dwarfism, has fallen victim to nasty misinformation spread about his age and message

Online trolls have falsely accused nine-year-old Quaden Bayles of actually being an 18-year-old man. In this photo, they claimed he was drinking wine - but had subtly cropped out the Appletiser next to him on the table

Online trolls have falsely accused nine-year-old Quaden Bayles of actually being an 18-year-old man. In this photo, they claimed he was drinking wine – but had subtly cropped out the Appletiser next to him on the table

The News Corp journalist retweeted a video of Quaden displaying cash, which falsely claimed the schoolboy was actually a paid actor.

‘Quaden Bayles is an Australian actor whose mom, Yarraka, posted a fake sobbing video of him,’ the misleading tweet said. 

‘The MSM and Hollywood fell for it and got him $300K+ in donations. 

‘Here Quaden counts his acting money. Will Quaden’s mom return the donations?’

Devine seemingly fuelled the misinformation, writing: ‘That’s really rotten if this was a scam. Hurts genuine bullying victims.’

One of Devine’s followers wrote it would be a ‘crime’ and ‘child abuse’ if proven to be a scam. 

News Corp journalist Miranda Devine retweeted a video of Quaden displaying cash, which claimed the schoolboy was actually a paid actor

News Corp journalist Miranda Devine retweeted a video of Quaden displaying cash, which claimed the schoolboy was actually a paid actor

 

One of Devine's followers wrote it would be a 'crime' and 'child abuse' if proven to be a scam

One of Devine’s followers wrote it would be a ‘crime’ and ‘child abuse’ if proven to be a scam

She replied: ‘Yep. Exactly. On the case.’

‘And coaching the kid to say those things that no nine year old would say.’ 

A number of Twitter users said Devine should fact check before spouting such opinions on social media. 

In a response to an article debunking myths about Quaden’s age, Devine wrote: ‘I never mentioned anything about his age. That’s a dishonest diversion.’ 

ABC journalist Matthew Bevan said Devine ‘should delete this immediately’ while Media Watch’s host Paul Barry said she should ‘step up’.

‘Because if Miranda Devine thought about it for one moment or checked, as any proper journalist would do, she would know that it’s nonsense, and she should not be retweeting it and suggesting it might be true,’ Barry wrote.   

Another post circulating claimed Quaden was actually an 18-year-old man, and not a nine-year-old primary school student

Another post circulating claimed Quaden was actually an 18-year-old man, and not a nine-year-old primary school student

Quaden (pictured far left) was actually attending the 18th birthday celebrations of a friend called Garlen

Quaden (pictured far left) was actually attending the 18th birthday celebrations of a friend called Garlen

‘Do you expect no standards from such a prominent columnist?’   

Another post circulating on Twitter said Quaden’s high-profile Instagram page and lucrative modelling career was proof he ‘scammed everybody’.

The accuser also pointed to a photo of Quaden at an 18th birthday party, saying the celebrations were for him.

In the heartbreaking footage shared last week, Quaden – who has the most common type of dwarfism called achondroplasia –  is seen sobbing into the camera and saying he is suicidal from being relentlessly bullied. 

He told his mother: ‘Give me a rope, I want to kill myself.’ 

Quaden leads the Indigenous All Stars on to the field with captain Joel Thompson on Saturday

Quaden leads the Indigenous All Stars on to the field with captain Joel Thompson on Saturday

‘I just want to stab myself in the heart… I want someone to kill me.’ 

Quaden also scratched at his neck and said: ‘I want to die… I want to scratch myself’.

Ms Bayles shared the video publicly on Facebook in a bid to raise awareness about the impact of bullying.

The nine-year-old was invited to walk the Indigenous All-Stars NRL team onto the pitch at Cbus Super Stadium, on the Gold Coast, as they took on the Maori All-Stars on Saturday.

Ms Bayles said Quaden had gone ‘from the worst day of his life to the best day of his life’ after being asked to lead out the NRL team.  

Quaden Bayles' mother Yarraka filmed the schoolboy crying in the car, where he said he wanted to end his life after being severely bullied by fellow classmates

Pictured: Quaden in the car

Quaden Bayles’ mother Yarraka filmed the schoolboy crying in the car, where he said he wanted to end his life after being severely bullied by fellow classmates 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk