Cool Videos: Wil Wheaton teaches girl how to stand up to bullies

March 31st 2014, 9:45pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Many of us were teased at school for the “nerdy” things we enjoyed. In this day and age, you’d think there would be less of that since the so-called “nerdy” is the cool “in” thing. Unfortunately, bullies are still there lurking in the shadows ready to make a negative or mean spirit comment about your Doctor Who lunchbox. As a kid, I was bullied for liking comics and wanting to play superheroes on the playground. I liked aliens, and on those days when people were particularly cruel, I just wanted to get sucked up into a spaceship and send into space. I wish then that someone like Wil Wheaton had been there to offer me advice just like he did this little girl at Planet Comic-Con last year in June.

When the girl asks what to do about a person who calls her a “nerd” at school, Wheaton responded to her in the best and sweetest way possible. When the video surfaced, the girl’s mother showed up on Reddit to update that the classmate no longer bullies her, and they are now friends. The little girl used the advice of Wheaton to help others who were picked on just like her.

Wheaton took to his website to follow-up on the story:

I really try my best to be the person I want other people to be. I don’t always succeed, but when I see things like this, and hear from people who have been touched or inspired by something I said or did in a positive way, it reminds me how important it is to do everything we can to be awesome.