Actor Will Smith joined Memphis students on 'Ellen' to surprise them with new clothes and shoes from his New Balance line. Host Ellen DeGeneres also gave each student a $10,000 check, courtesy of Shutterfly.
A video of Martin Luther King College Prep students Kristopher Graham, Antwain Garrett and Micheal Todd went viral over the last two weeks as a positive example of how students should handle bullying.
"I saw the video, and me and Jada (Pinkett Smith) were sitting around and were like, 'That is fantastic,'" Smith said on the show. The segment was posted on the 'Ellen' website earlier on Friday and will air as part of the full show Friday afternoon on ABC Local 24 at 4 p.m.
Smith knew he had to reach out. Via his New Balance partnership, all of the other students at the Frayser high school will also receive merchandise from Smith's new line.
"What you did felt small to you, but I promise you that is exactly how human beings are supposed to interact with one another," Smith said. "It's not more complicated than that."
"I can't thank you enough for being an example to all the kids out there, all the adults out there, who need to pay attention to helping others," DeGeneres told them.
DeGeneres invited the three Martin Luther King College Prep students to the show after seeing the video that was shared hundreds of thousands of times.
In it, classmates Kristopher Graham and Antwain Garrett give clothes and a new pair of shoes to Micheal Todd, a freshman at the school who was bullied for the clothes he was wearing.
Graham felt bad for joining some of his peers in laughing, so he reached out to football teammate Antwain Garrett to see how he could apologize to Todd, and planned to give Todd some new clothes. Smith congratulated Graham on realizing that he needed to "self-correct."
Graham and Garrett didn't plan on sharing the video, but a classmate filmed the exchange. Garrett didn't expect it to go viral, he just wanted to make a difference, he said on 'Ellen.'
Todd told DeGeneres he was surprised, shocked and happy by his classmates' good deed.
"I tried to keep a straight face instead of showing my smile," Todd said. "It was the best day of my life, because I was bullied my entire life."
Then, when Smith surprised them on stage: "This is awesome."
The three students received the jumbo-sized cardboard checks at the end of the show, and raised them high in the air.
"Have a wonderful weekend, be kind to one another," DeGeneres said to close the segment.
Laura Testino covers education and children's issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at laura.testino@commercialappeal.com or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino
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