Gerod Roth, who uses the alias Geris Hilton online, posted a photo of himself at his workplace with the three-year-old Cayden Jade in the background. The photo sparked a series of racist comments and jokes.

#HISNAMEISCAYDEN

Cayden was with his mother, Sydney Jade, at her workplace at Polaris Marketing Group in Atlanta, and was roaming the halls when Roth spotted him and snapped a photo of himself with the aloof Cayden in the background. After posting it to his Facebook page under the name Geris Hilton, the photo soon attracted attention from his followers, many of whom made racist jokes about it. Roth himself posted the comment, “He was feral,” in response to someone asking where he had found “a black kid.”

Roth explained to Fox 5 that his “feral” comment was merely a remark on how there were kids roaming about the building. He also said that he had asked one of the people to not make racist jokes. “I just really feel upset, not only with myself, but also the character that was based off the comments that my friends had made,” Roth told Fox. “Cayden has been victimized but I have been targeted.”

Roth was fired from his job soon after the incident, although the company claimed that it was for reasons unrelated to it.

The company president, Michael Da Graca Pinto, made a statement on Facebook about Cayden. “It breaks my heart that Sydney and her adorable son Cayden were subjected to such hateful, ignorant and despicable behavior. Cayden visits my office almost every afternoon after daycare, he’s sat at my dinner table and I consider him a part of the PMG family.”

A friend of Roth’s, Skylar Felton, spoke up to defend Roth on Facebook. “My Dawg isn’t Racist, he just made a bad joke & im sure when he is given the outlet to speak about his regret, he will.”

Sydney, Cayden’s mother, has received an enormous amount of support following these insensitive comments about her son, and she later posted pictures on her Facebook page of Cayden along with a statement:

This is Cayden Jace! The love of my life, the apple in my eye, my EVERYTHING. All this lovely personality wrapped up into one small person’s body. When people hear about him, these are the pictures I want them to know about. Not that disturbing image and its comments. We are above all of this nonsense that has been going on. Cayden and I truly appreciate all of the love that we have been shown in the last 24 hours. You guys warm my heart, more than words could ever express.This little guys has every piece of my heart, he is my world and‪ #‎HisNameIsCayden‬.

Social media has since been using the hashtag #HisNameIsCayden and posting their support for her via Twitter. Sydney was pleasantly surprised to find how many people were on her side. 

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