Kimberly Jones, a Tennessee mother of three, posted a video on Facebook over the weekend that featured her middle school son Keaton talking about being bullied at school.
https://twitter.com/JamieOGrady/status/939542413722509312
The video quickly went viral and garnered tons of support from all across the nation. You can read PJ Media’s report here.
The outpouring of love and support from left and right alike was truly inspirational and enough to restore your faith in humanity… until some people decided to investigate Jones’ Facebook page and discovered to their horror that she is a Trump supporter who believes athletes should honor the flag. She apparently committed the unpardonable sin of posting an image or two of the Confederate flag.
Jones has now scrubbed her Facebook because “resisters,” who view everything through a political lens, were spreading a message of hatred and division on her posts.
The same thing happened to Keaton’s sister, who was happily retweeting all of the messages of support her family was receiving over the weekend. Then trolls started filling her Twitter feed with racialist bile like this:
I hope nobody donates a cent to this hoe
— Bonnie Runimas (@socavalier) December 11, 2017
Somebody reportedly set up a fake Instagram account in Kimberly Jones’ name asking for donations to her PayPal account. Lakyn Jones explained to her followers that the Instagram account was not her mother’s:
https://twitter.com/Lakyn_Jones/status/940284002086375429
https://twitter.com/Lakyn_Jones/status/940355796088573952
Lakyn also tweeted the following message after the trolling started:
https://twitter.com/Lakyn_Jones/status/940239149583556608
Someone who calls himself “KingCEO” actually suggested that Keaton himself was the bully at school.
https://twitter.com/KingCEO_sopoco/status/940262015347564544
https://twitter.com/KingCEO_sopoco/status/940258850158010368
One hater, whose Twitter account was put on restriction, escalated the cyber-bullying by tweeting several cruel photoshops onto Lakyn’s timeline.
It seems as though much of the hatred started pouring in following a tweet by notorious Twitter troll Tariq Nasheed.
Early Monday morning, Nasheed — who has over 200,000 followers — tweeted that Kimberly Jones is a “suspected racist who makes very problematic posts.”
That viral video of #KeatonJones talking about being bullied is heartbreaking, and I feel sympathetic towards that child.
But his mom, Kimberly on the other hand, is a suspected racist who makes very problematic posts bullying Black protesters #TheIrony pic.twitter.com/NUhidunP8z— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) December 11, 2017
Joy Villa, the Trump-supporting singer/songwriter who made waves last February when she wore a blue MAGA dress to the 2017 Grammy Awards, defended the Jones family and cut Tariq down to size.
Again with your hate. Stop it, he's a child and I fully agree with his mom as do millions of others. This is not a race thing, it's a respect for the flag and all it represents.
— Joy Villa (@Joy_Villa) December 11, 2017
After the massive outpouring of support, things appeared to be looking up for Keaton Jones over the weekend. As I noted, his social calendar is full for the next few weeks with invitations to football games, a movie premiere in Hollywood, a tour of UFC headquarters in Las Vegas, and even an invitation to stay at the home of Donald Trump Jr. while he’s in Vegas (should he decide to go). It was a powerful demonstration of the positive impact social media can have on people’s lives. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the darker side of social media to raise its ugly head.
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