Jonah Mowry’s (14) heartbreaking video about his time being bullied for being gay was picked up by blogger Perez Hilton on Saturday, spurring an online outpouring of support for the eighth grader.
In the video, Mowry bravely holds up note cards that tell his story - involving his feelings of fear and his thoughts of suicide - but in the end, proclaims to his tormentors that he is “not going anywhere.”
Perez Hilton, who has over 4 million followers on Twitter (@PerezHilton), tweeted a link to the YouTube video first on Saturday and directed it towards the singer Sia. Mowry used Sia’s song “Breathe Me” as the music in his video.
Following that, Hilton continued to make appeals to numerous other celebrities via both Twitter and his blog site PerezHilton.com in hopes of spreading Mowry’s message.
The video has since gone viral on Twitter and Facebook as well as other media outlets after Hilton began to share the video. To date, Mowry’s video on YouTube, titled “What’s goin on...” [sic] has over 2.2 million views.
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Celebrities who have tweeted back their support for Mowry include both LGBT and straight individuals. Rosie O’Donnell, Lady Gaga and Josh Groban among many others all tweeted their support for the 14 year old, reports the Huffington Post. ‘Glee’ star Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch) tweeted “I want to wrap Jonah up in my arms. I believe love has the power to travel through space and time. Let’s send some to Jonah.”
Excited about the overwhelmingly positive response, Hilton tweeted “We have so much power collectively. As demonstrated by @JonahMowryReal ‘s life-saving video going viral! Together we can all do so much good!”
The support shown for Mowry comes at a high point of bullying-awareness, after 15 year old Phoebe Prince took her life as a result of incessant bullying in 2010. Other horror stories of children and teens being bullied and finding self-harm as their only option have been in the news as well, triggering an influx of supportive anti-bullying resources and campaigns. One of the most popular is the similarly viral message of “It Gets Better” for teens struggling with their sexuality.
Perez Hilton both tweeted and blogged how he was in touch directly with Jonah Mowry, who thankfully is doing much better since the time he posted his video in August. Hilton blogged that he’s invited Mowry to his upcoming birthday party in March, all expenses paid. He closed his update on Mowry by stating “Life is not fun every single day. But it is a great gift and you are special! Know that!”
Below, watch Mowry’s now viral YouTube video:
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