A nine-year-old boy who went viral after being bullied for his dwarfism has been invited on a whirlwind round-the-world trip by a slew of celebrities and sport stars.
Quaden Bayles, from Brisbane, made international headlines last week when his mother Yarraka filmed him saying he wanted to die after being bullied at school.
The heartbreaking footage prompted a number of celebrities to publicly defend the schoolboy, including Hugh Jackman, Johnathan Thurston, Cardi B and Piers Morgan.
Quaden has since been invited on a number of global trips and experiences, including Disneyland in California, court side tickets to an NBA game and an offer to attend a mixed martial arts masterclass in Singapore.
American Comedian Brad Williams, who also has dwarfism, raised more than $700,000 (US465,899), and counting, to send Quaden and his mother to Disneyland.
Quaden Bayles, 9, was invited to walk onto the pitch with the Indigenous All-Stars NRL team on Saturday night on the Gold Coast. Pictured: hand-in-hand with captain Joel Thompson
Quaden Bayles, from Brisbane, made international headlines last week when his mother Yarraka filmed him saying he wanted to die after being bullied at school
‘I’m setting up this GoFundMe to let Quaden know that bullying will not be tolerated, and that he is a wonderful human being who deserves joy,’ Williams wrote on the GoFundMe page.
‘I want to fly Quaden and his mother to America, get them a nice hotel, and bring them to Disneyland.’
All excess funds raised will be donated to anti-bullying charities.
After learning that Quaden was an NBA fan, the Houston Rockets basketball team invited him to sit court side one of their games in Texas.
‘Cool shirt, Quaden! We’re on your team. We’d like to invite you to Houston to come to a game when you visit the U.S,’ the team posted, along with a photo of Quaden wearing a Houston Rockets t-shirt.
Martial arts champion and ONE Championship founder Chatri Sityodtong, 49, offered to fly Quaden and his family on an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore.
After learning Quaden was an NBA fan, the Houston Rockets basketball team invited him to sit court side one of their games in Texas
Sityodtong praised Quaden’s strength and invited him to be taught martial arts in a video posted online on Friday.
The martial arts champion also promised to ‘teach (Quaden) personally myself’.
‘I just wanted to share an update on Quaden Bayles. I just spoke to his amazing mom, Yarraka, over the phone,’ Sityodtong tweeted.
‘She has graciously accepted my invitation to come to Singapore for an all-expenses-paid vacation so Quaden can learn martial arts at EVOLVE’.
Quaden’s mother Yarraka shared the distressing video which sparked the outpouring of support after picking her son up from school on Wednesday.
The schoolboy, who has achondroplasia – the most common type of dwarfism – told his mother: ‘Give me a rope, I want to kill myself.’
In the video, which has been viewed more than three million times, Quaden also said: ‘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.
The Murri boy led out the Indigenous All-Stars NRL team on Saturday night on the Gold Coast.
Quaden was invited to walk onto the pitch at Cbus Super Stadium as they took on the Maori All-Stars.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Quaden entered the field hand-in-hand with captain Joel Thompson at about 8pm.
Martial arts champion and ONE Championship founder Chatri Sityodtong, 49, offered to fly Quaden and his family on an all-expenses paid trip to Singapore
American Comedian Brad Williams, who also has dwarfism, raised more than $700,000 (US465,899), and counting, to send Quaden and his mother to Disneyland
‘I’m setting up this GoFundMe to let Quaden know that bullying will not be tolerated, and that he is a wonderful human being who deserves joy,’ Williams wrote on the GoFundMe page
He was dressed in an All-Stars jersey, donned black noise-cancelling headphones and clung to the match ball as he strode into the middle of the pitch.
Quaden stopped at the half-way mark to pose for a pre-match photo with a referee, Thompson and Maori All-Stars co-captain Adam Blair.
Before entering the field, the nine-year-old gave high-fives to the squad members of the Maori All-Stars.
He was earlier snapped smiling with commentator and former North Queensland Cowboys star Johnathan Thurston.
Quaden has also received an outpouring of support online from other celebrities.
Hugh Jackman, 51, told the schoolboy that he’ll always be his friend.
The Les Misérables star also sent a powerful message to Quaden’s bullies, saying that ‘life is hard enough’ without people going out of their way to upset others.
‘Quaden, you are stronger than you know, mate,’ Hugh said in a video shared with his 14 million Twitter followers.
Hugh Jackman (pictured) has spoken out after footage of bullied child Quaden Bayles telling his mother he wanted to kill himself went viral earlier this week
He added: ‘And no matter what, you’ve got a friend in me.’
Rapper Cardi B also shared an impassioned video to social media, defending Quaden after cruel trolls accused him of secretly being an adult.
A conspiracy theory was spread that the youngster is secretly an adult.
‘Everyone keeps saying he’s lying about his age’, the outspoken rapper told her 59.3 million Instagram followers.
‘I really don’t think he’s lying about his age.
‘And just because there’s videos of him flossing money and acting all gangster, and acting all cool and everything, it doesn’t mean that kids do not pick on him.
‘Come on, just because he’s acting a certain type of way and trying to be cool, his parents are probably trying to boost up his ego and make him act a certain type of way for Instagram.’
Rapper Cardi B (pictured) took to Instagram to issue a plea for trolls to stop claiming Quaden is lying about his age