Simon Hunter
A boy in Mallorca who was bullied by classmates during a summer camp has been inundated with messages of support from celebrities and sports stars after a video of the harassment was shared by the child’s brother.
The 11-year-old, whose name is Izan, was being taunted by classmates on the day of his birthday. In the video recording, his bullies are heard to call him “fat” and a “seal”. The child can be seen crying in the playground of the Es Puig de Lloseta school while he is taunted.
In the message that accompanied the video, Izan’s brother explained that “the first thing that [Izan] did” when he returned home “was to burst into tears and say that this life is horrible and that he no longer wanted to live”.
The brother also explained that the video had been recorded by one of the bullies with the aim of sharing it on social media.
The video has since gone viral and has been greeted with positive responses from Spanish celebrities such as Eurovision singer Chanel, Unidas Podemos party leader Ione Belarra, internet celebrity Ibai Llanos and football player Antoine Griezmann, who messaged Izan to tell him that “life is beautiful” and to invite him to an Atlético de Madrid game at the Wanda Stadium.
In response to the messages, Izan released a video thanking everyone for the support and birthday wishes, saying that they had “really cheered him up”, advising anyone who suffered similar treatment should “try to ignore it” and “take the measures you need to take”.
The child’s family also criticised staff at the school for not doing enough to prevent the bullying, and said that he had been suffering the mistreatment for four years.
The school, however, announced that it was considering legal action against the family given that a private company was running the summer camp where the incident took place, despite being on their premises.
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