Shayden Walker

Overview

Shayden Walker is a young boy from Texas who went viral on TikTok in July 2023 after a Ring doorbell video was posted where he approaches the neighbor’s house and asks if he knows any kids around 11 or 12 years old that he can be friends with after he became the victim of bullying by other kids in the neighborhood. The video went viral with over 55 million views in two days and inspired reactions, including responses from kids wanting to be Shayden’s friend. A GoFundMe page was created to raise money for Shayden, earning over $35,000 in two days.

History

On July 5th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @brennanray (Brennan Ray) posted a video captured on a doorbell camera of a young boy named Shayden Walker approaching his home and asking if he knows any kids around 11 or 12 years old that would want to be his friend. Ray tells Walker that there are some kids in the house next door, but Walker claims he isn’t friends with them because they bully him. Ray then says he has a two-year-old and Walker says he “loves” two-year-olds and wants to be friends with her. The video (shown below) garnered over 56.1 million views in two days.

The next day, the same TikToker^[2] posted a second video taken around 30 minutes before the first where Walker approaches the door then walks away without saying anything, presumably because he was nervous, garnering over 4.5 million views in a day (shown below). In the video description, Ray writes, “Lets make this kid feel special! Will post go fund me page in description. Pt 3 will be him receiving everything.”

The GoFundMe^[3] page, titled, “Spreading kindness for Shayden,” garnered over $37,000 USD in donations in two days.

On July 6th, Walker’s mother started a TikTok account @shayden.walker_. Her original account, @krishnapoo7, was purportedly banned by TikTok. That day, she posted a video to TikTok^[4] with Shayden thanking people for their support and also discouraging people from making fake accounts posing as her or Shayden to try and make money. Shayden then thanks everyone and says if there are any kids who want to be his friend, they should call him (shown below, left). Later that day, the TikToker^[5] posted another video of Shayden holding up the Jaws T-shirt he wore in the original viral video (shown below, right). That day, TikToker^[6] @brennanray posted a follow-up video thanking everyone for the donations to the GoFundMe page.

Online Presence / Response

After the original viral video was posted, people began posting videos and content responding and reacting to it. On July 5th, 2023, Twitter^[7] user @MrJohnnytokes posted the video, writing, “I know the UFC, Dana and the fighters are always pretty good about getting kids involved. Especially ones who are being bullied. This is Shayden Walker. All the MMA peeps please retweet this and let’s find him and get him some friends!” garnering over 690 likes in two days (shown below).

I know the UFC, Dana and the fighters are always pretty good about getting kids involved. Especially ones who are being bullied. This is Shayden Walker. All the MMA peeps please retweet this and let’s find him and get him some friends! danawhite</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ufc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">UFC @MacMallyMMA #MMATwitter pic.twitter.com/47iU1OgLGL

— Johnny Facts! (@MrJohnnytokes) July 5, 2023

On July 6th, TikToker^[8] @rjbrasher79 posted a video of their son Ian saying he wants to be friends with Shayden, garnering over 2.4 million views in a day (shown below, left). That day, TikToker^[9] @kbob83 posted a video reacting to one of Shayden’s update videos, garnering over 498,000 views in a day (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References