The clip, titled ‘Making The Bus Monitor Cry’ has been viewed by nearly 4 million people, gained infamy online as a vicious example of bullying.
Originally found on Facebook then uploaded onto YouTube by user CapitalTrigga, who was not present at the time of the filming, the video has gained an outpouring of support for U.S. resident Karen Klein who was taunted by school children for supposedly being overweight and poor.
The children, from Athena Middle School in the state of New York keep up an unrelenting verbal attack on the woman, which lasts for 10 minutes.
Taunted: Karen Klein in the bullying video
Internet users who saw the clip shared on the popular Reddit share site decided to make it up to her by raising money, calling the campaign “Let’s Give Karen (The Bus Monitor) H. Klein A Vacation of a Lifetime!”
The campaign snowballed, and raised nearly half a million dollars in donations.
Max Sidorov, who organised the online fundraiser, told Mashable “I’ve had experience with bullying from school. I know how bad it can feel.”
His original instruction reads “Let’s give Karen a vacation of a lifetime, let’s show her the power of the internets and how kind and generous people can be.”
Looks like his faith in the kindness of strangers worked out nicely.
Karen told MSNCB news “I do hope the parents see this, not just kids and they can talk to their kids and tell them to be a little more respectful.”
Watch the video below. Be warned, it’s not very nice.
Main image: Getty
