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Hugh Jackman and Mark Hamill back bullied schoolboy with dwarfism

A boy whose mother posted a now-viral video about her son being bullied at school now has Wolverine and Luke Skywalker at his back.

The heartbreaking footage of Australian schoolboy Quaden Bayles was posted to Facebook by his mum Yarraka, who has said that her nine-year-old son has become suicidal over the taunting.

But now, as well as Hollywood stars showing their support, a crowdfund is raising thousands of dollars to send him to Disneyland.

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In the video, Quaden, who was born with achondroplasia dwarfism, is seen in the back of his mum's car moments after an incident of bullying.

Hugh Jackman speaks at the 2019 Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Hugh Jackman (Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

In tears, 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.”

But now, Quaden has been flooded with support.

Wolverine and The Greatest Showman star Hugh Jackman took to Twitter, posting a video address both Quaden and his bullies directly.

Quaden Bayles (Credit: Facebook)
Quaden Bayles (Credit: Facebook)

“Quaden, you are stronger than you know mate, and no matter what, you've got a friend in me,” he says.

“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.”

Star Wars icon Mark Hamill added: “The cruelty is as astonishing as it is heartbreaking.”

Walking Dead star Jeffrey Dean Morgan also posted a video on Twitter, telling Quaden: “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 you have friends, me included, I am your buddy.

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“You haven’t met me yet, but we’ll see if we can change that for one, maybe your mum can DM me, you have a bunch of friends out here, out in the world that you haven’t met yet. We’re here and we’ve got your back and you need to know that, it’ll get better.

“As a dad of a nine-year-old kids can be horrible and that’s because their parents aren’t doing their job. It’s going to get better. I promise it will.”

In the video posted by Yarraka Bayles, which has now seen over two million views, she says: “I just picked my son up from school, witnessed a bullying episode, rang the principal and I want people to know this is the effect bullying has. This is what bullying does.

“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.

“So can you please educate your children, your families, your friends because all it takes is one more instance… and you wonder why kids are killing themselves.”

The crowdfund to send Quaden to Disneyland, which has been set up by Australian comedian Brad Williams, has so far clocked up a massive $200,000 (just over £100,000).

He tweeted:

Quaden has also received messages of support from Australia’s National Rugby League, and the Indigenous All Stars.

The All Stars have invited him to go out on the pitch with them this weekend.