The story of Keaton Jones, a middle school student from Tennessee, started out simple: A young boy made a video about being bullied, the video went viral, and hundreds of Americans rallied to his defence.

The reality, however, is much more complicated. In the days since Keaton’s video went viral, social media has brimmed with disturbing allegations about his family – including accusations of racism. While sympathy for Keaton still abounds, many people have found themselves wondering: What’s really going on here?

Keep reading for everything you need to know.

Who is Keaton Jones?

Keaton Jones makes emotional appeal over his bullies

Keaton is a middle-school student who lives in Tennessee with his mother and two sisters. According to his mother, Kimberly, Keaton was born with a tumour. Treatment for the tumour required numerous surgeries, which affected the appearance of his face.

Earlier this month, Ms Jones uploaded a video to Facebook of Keaton describing the bullying he faced for looking different. He said other students made fun of his appearance, poured milk on him, and stuffed ham down his shirt.

“Just out of curiosity, why do they bully? What's the point of it?” he asked.

The tearful plea struck a chord with millions of viewers. The video was shared widely across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, rendering the bullied boy an overnight celebrity.

What has happened since he went viral?

The initial reaction to the video was heartwarming: Viewers flooded Keaton with messages of support, urging him to be strong in the face of adversity.

Millie Bobby Brown, the child actor who plays Eleven in Netflix's Stranger Things, tweeted that she wanted to be friends with Keaton. Rapper Snoop Dogg told Keaton to “hit me on dm so we can chop it up”. Chris Evans, the actor who plays Captain America, invited the boy and his mother to attend the premiere of The Avengers in Los Angeles next year.

“This broke my 💔 today,” pop star Katy Perry tweeted on 10 December. “Please be kind to one another.”

That same day, however, troubling rumours about Keaton’s family began to swirl.

Why has his mother been accused of racism?

This tweet from Keaton Jones's sister shows members of the Jones family posing with a Confederate flag (Twitter/Lakyn Jones)

Social media sleuths quickly discovered unsettling photographs on Ms Jones’s Facebook account, where the video of Keaton was first posted. One showed Ms Jones smiling and holding a Confederate flag. Another showed her children posed around the same flag, in what appeared to be a Fourth of July photoshoot.

Ms Jones changed her Facebook profile to private shortly after the photos were discovered, but the screenshots were already in circulation. She admitted that the photographs were real in a televised interview the next day.

What about his father?

This Facebook photo appears to show Shawn White (R) making a white supremacist gang hand symbol (Facebook/Shawn White)

A Facebook account seemingly belonging to Keaton’s father, Shawn White, also contains some disturbing images. Several of the 37-year-old’s profile pictures show him making gang signs associated with the Aryan Circle – a white supremacist prison gang.

In one photo, Mr White can be seen standing next to a man with a swastika tattoo. His own tattoos read “pure breed” and “white pride”.

Other posts on Mr White’s page contain further references to the white supremacist gang. One post displays a large number 13, which can be used as a stand-in for “AC” or “Aryan Circle”. The text included in the same post reads: “Thank you for being apart[sic] of this family. Without you there is no us!! WE are the Aryan”.

How have they responded?

Keaton Jones' mother says confederate flag photos were ironic

Keaton’s mother appeared on numerous television news shows to defend her family in the wake of the allegations. She told ABC News that the Confederate flag photos were meant to be a joke, and maintained that she was not racist.

“It was meant to be ironic and funny and extreme," she said. "I am genuinely truly sorry. If I could take it back, I would.”

In an appearance on ITV’s This Morning, she lamented the amount of scrutiny her family had faced in the aftermath of the video.

“I’ve been judged and sentenced, my entire family has been judged and sentenced based on two pictures and people who don’t know us,” she said. “And that’s something I would not wish on anybody. It’s a little ironic that it’s brought the bullies out.”

Mr White has not responded, as he is currently incarcerated for aggravated assault. But Keaton’s sister reportedly wrote on her private Twitter account that the family has cut ties with him.

“You all can go look back at every tweet from every father’s & mother’s day to see that all we have is our mom,” Lakyn Jones tweeted, according to People. “We have no contact with our dads. BECAUSE of their actions. That’s why all the articles say ‘estranged’ because we don’t talk to them. Leave us alone.”

The response from the public, meanwhile, seems to be one of dual sympathy for Keaton – both for the bullying he endured, and for any harmful lessons he may have learned from his parents.