Hollywood Popular Artists

Jun 22nd 2012, 15:35

Ellen DeGeneres just makes you feel like dancing with her. Is there anything that can bring Ellen down? Wait, there is -- bullying.

We tend to think of bullying as kids bullying other kids, but it's not that simple. Adults can bully kids, adults can bully other adults, and in an example that's gone viral, kids can bully adults. If you haven't seen the video everyone's talking about, here's the sad story: 68-year-old Karen Klein was doing her job as a bus monitor (she earns $15,506 a year) for the Greece Central School District in Rochester, NY,  when a group of middle school students began viciously harassing her. They attacked how she looked, said that her family members killed themselves because they didn't want to be around her (this must've been very painful since her son committed suicide 10 years ago) and responded to her tears by saying, "She probably misses her box of Twinkies."

It's been reported that four students bullied Karen on the bus and some have apologized to her but she admitted last night on "Anderson Cooper 360" that she's doubtful by their sincerity.  Karen doesn't know if she's pressing criminal charges on the students so Anderson asked her what she wants to happen to the kids.  "I want them to make sure that they never do this again to anybody. I would like them to be at least kept off the bus for a year and be forbidden to play any sports, at least for year. Somebody mentioned community service and I thought that was a pretty good idea."

The school released the following statement: "We all need to take a step back and look at how we treat each other. It is our job as educators and parents to teach children and lead by example. We encourage parents to use this as a springboard to begin a dialogue with their children about bullying, respect and consequences."

They're wise words, but since the bullying had already taken place, many people were upset and their hearts went out to Karen. And that leads us to Ellen's Tweet:

It breaks my heart. I'm so moved by the donations. Bullying doesn't end when you grow up. It ends when we stop bullying say.ly/bGm3ANC

— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) June 21, 2012

Yup, donations -- because someone who saw the vid decided to put together a fundraiser to give Karen a great vacay. $15,506 a year isn't exactly enough to have a good vacation. They were hoping to earn $5,000, but now they've almost reached $500,000! Southwest Airlines has also offered to take Karen and 9 guests on all expenses paid trip to Disneyland. Now that's something to dance about!

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