Bullied Keaton Jones Is 'Thrilled' by the Support: It 'Means a Lot to Him,' Says Family Friend

“Keaton is thrilled to hear from everyone,” a friend of the family tells PEOPLE. “It really means a lot to him.”

“They make fun of my nose. They call me ugly. They say I have no friends,” Keaton told his mother in a car with tears in his eyes. He even recalled an incident during lunch when things got physical. He said the bullies “put milk on me and put ham down my clothes, throw bread on me.”

“Just out of curiosity, why do they bully? What’s the point of it?” he asked. “Why do you find joy in taking innocent people and finding a way to be mean to them? It’s not okay.”

The footage quickly amassed millions of views as it spread across the Internet and social media users supported Keaton using the hashtags “#WeLoveKeatonJones” and “#StandWithKeaton.”

“Keaton asked to do this AFTER he had me pick him up AGAIN because he was afraid to go to lunch. My kids are by no stretch perfect, and at home, he’s as all boy as they come, but by all accounts he’s good at school,” she wrote in the post.

“Talk to your kids. I’ve even had friends of mine tell me their kids were only nice to him to get him to mess with people. We all know how it feels to want to belong, but only a select few know how it really feels not to belong anywhere.”