Gabrielle Union, Dwayne Wade, and Ludacris secretly raise funds for gay teenager who killed himself after being bullied
A host of celebrities came together to help financially support the mother of Alabama teenager Nigel Shelby who committed suicide after being bullied for being gay.
Fifteen-year-old Shelby took his own life around two weeks ago after being constantly bullied. His mother Camika Quintay revealed that Shelby struggled with depression while battling homophobic bullying until his death on April 18. As reported by TMZ, celebrities such as Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade, Ludacris, and Janelle Monae donated to funds to help Quintay with the funeral expenses. Though none of the celebrities publicly revealed information about the donations, sources told TMZ the celebs involved in raising the funds.
A GoFundMe page revealed that $39,740 of a $26,000 goal had been raised for the purpose. The exact amount that the stars donated has not been revealed but the funding page revealed that one anonymous donor gave $7,899. It also appeared that actress Lena Waithe had donated $5,000.
Sources said they were led by Slutty Vegan restaurant owner Pinky Cole, who enlisted her famous friends in raising the money for the tombstone, funeral service and for support of the mother.
Quintay shared video clips from the funeral and is seen riding a horse-drawn carriage which pulled Shelby's coffin. She captioned the clip, "My love and I took our last ride together in a horse& carriage all the way down the parkway and to his final resting place."
After the tragic loss had taken place, she shared with social media users how Shelby had full coverage of health insurance but not life insurance. She also added how she was very skeptical about creating a crowdfunding page as she has "never been into handouts or asking anyone for anything." Quintay also shared, "I knew I had to swallow my pride and seek help to give my baby the proper home going."
The celebrity support came after Madison County Deputy Jeff Graves wrote disapprovingly on Facebook of Shelby's sexuality and suicide. "Liberty Guns Bible Trump BBQ That's my kind of LGBTQ movement," he posted.
He also spoke about people's reactions to Shelby's death and said he was "seriously offended". Graves wrote, "Society cannot and should not except [sic] this behavior."
"I have a right to be offended and will always be offended by this fake movement which requires no special attention but by persons with an altered ego and fake agenda," he added. Since then, the father of three quickly deleted his insensitive comments.