My Little Pony fans are rushing to the aid of young Michael Morones, an eleven-year-old boy who is currently in the hospital after his attempted suicide. It would seem that the attempt came after alleged bullying by his classmates over being a Brony, a fan of the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. While this is undoubtedly a tragedy, the ongoing groundswell of love and support toward Morones thus far has been inspiring.
People Magazine and Mashable have reported that Morones told his parents about how he was teased and derisively labeled “gay” by his classmates for being a fan of My Little Pony. Last week, Michael was stopped in an attempt to hang himself by his parents and rushed to the hospital. He is not currently conscious and has suffered brain damage from the event.
Over on GoFundMe, a fundraiser is currently raising thousands of dollars to help Michael’s family with his medical bills. (They are close to the $60,000 mark at the time this post was being written). Bronies from all over the world are sending their well-wishes to the boy, letting him know that there is a community of fans out there who are just like him, that being “manly” has nothing to do with the television shows you watch, that he should feel free to love the things he loves.
Michael Morones’ favorite pony is Pinkie Pie (he has ADHD and his parents say he relates to her exuberant energy). And rather than calling out the children who allegedy teased their son, Morones’ parents are calling for all children to be educated in the manner that Friendship is Magic advocates: to promote greater understanding through kindness. They believe that is what Michael would want. All our best wishes go out to Michael Morones and his family—we certainly hope that their message is heard and taken heart by people of all ages.
Michael, don’t ever let them tell you what you can think, do, like, or love.
I’m 45 years old, married, happy, successful, incredibly not-gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and Pinkie Pie is my favorite pony of all time. Whenever my kids want to watch MLP I make them watch the Cranky Doodle Donkey episode because I LOVE the “Come on every pony, smile smile smile” song that she does.
Here’s my Pinkie Pie, in her Griffyndor colors, wearing a League of Legends Teemo hat, eating Pez from an R2-D2 dispenser. Geeks rule, and MLP is a great show. Don’t give up, bud. Bullies only bully people because they’re afraid, stupid, and cowardly.
Keep calm, and Fluttershy on.
I had the thought that you can describe history as being a series of wars interspersed with times of preparation for war (aka “peacetime”). I think human nature naturally leads itself to fighting, bullying and generally just being downright shitty to each other. Folk like Jesus and Mohammed and Budha have tried to figure out a way for us to live with each other and not kill each other but it’s always a struggle against our default natures.
These bullies fell back to their base animalistic natures and, I suspect, failed to use their higher brain functions. And before soemeone says “animals don’t kill for fun” yes, lots of animals do kill for fun and not just to eat.
I hate all the gender segregation that we press upon young kids. Toys in boy aisles and girl aisles and never the twain shall meet. It makes fertile ground for bullies when the stereotypes are pushed so hard.
I started watching My Little Pony with my granddaughter. And now have gotten to the point where I watch it even when she is not around, because it is a darn good show with interesting stories and well rounded characters, and a lot of fun besides. I have a Doctor Whooves and a Derpy pony on my coffee table beside me as I type this, toys she and my son gave me for recent holidays.
I got bullied as a bookish and smallish young boy, so I know how it feels. My heart goes out to Michael, along with my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
This is heartbreaking, I was made fun of for reading comic books, Tolkien and being a metalhead but it never got this bad. This and other things that have happened show that the “Zero Tolerance” for bullying is bullshit
To quote a quote from Epbot:
http://www.epbot.com/2014/02/for-michael-little-brony.html
The outpouring of support from the Bronies community has astonished the family. Suttle [Michael’s stepdad] left a message for Andrea Libman, who does the voice of Pinkie Pie, asking if she might send a message of support to Michael. Libman was in South Australia on vacation, and she found a way to record a personal message for Suttle to play for Michael. In addition, she got every member of the cast to record individual messages for the boy. “When we play the My Little Pony messages for him, there is increased activity on the EEG,” Suttle said.
Thank you for posting this, I was really hoping Tor.com would cover this.
Reading about this (I’ve been following it for a few days) has really opened up some wounds from my own past I thougt were closed (I remember being so excited about my new Mario sneakers in the 1st or 2nd grade, and then being told that girls couldn’t wear those shoes by one of my friends….and that’s nothing at all compared to the bullying I experienced in middle school), as well as renwed my fear for my sons.
My husband and I have often talked about wanting to check out this show, and this is actually making me even more inclined to. His parents are stronger than I am, that’s for sure – I’d want to go after every single one of those bullies personally…but I can only hope they truly feel the evil of what they have done and use that to motivate themselves to become better people.
Michael, you sound like a truly awesome kid and I hope you can recover and let your light shine. We need more people like you and you shouldn’t have to be ashamed of or hide who you are. You have a lot to offer the world, and there are many ways to be a man (or a woman).
And the saddest part of this whole thing is that it’s about a show whose central theme is that everyone, no matter how socially awkward, offbeat, or bordering-on-clinical-personality-disordered, deserves to have friends and is capable of maintaining relationships with people who aren’t much like themselves.
Get well!
That’s a really great thing to do.
BUT…those children still need to be called out.
I’m currently a senior in high school, and deal with Bullies every day, due to being a Brony. Though it doesn’t get to me, I still send my support to Michael. I don’t have the money to donate, but if I did, I would surely do so. People who bully others for Likeing a show are stupid in more ways than one.
I’m so sorry what happened, and i know I’m late with this (first i heard of the story), but i hope your recovery went well.
i know all too well what its like to be bullied, and some of the things that happen when a bullied kid is pushed too far. in my case, it was getting into fist fights with my bullies in high school and lashing out at the teachers when i got in trouble instead of them. i was even breifly but on a watch list after something i said to one of the councillors. (he was apparently afraid i would be the next dylan kleibold!)
heres to hoping you don’t end up making my mistakes.
there’s no shame in being a brony, despite what those insecure kids think.
I’m 21, and a brony, and my favorite pony is Twilight sparkle, but pinkie is my second favorite.