Twitter Starts 'Free Terio' Campaign

(The Root) — Adulation for Terio, the 6-year-old dancing dynamo credited with saving Vine, has given way to concern after two more videos of him went viral. Suggested Reading Post #3 6-18-2025 Post #2 6-18-2025 Post #1 6-16-2025 Video will return here when scrolled back into view To view this video please enable JavaScript, and…

(The Root) — Adulation for Terio, the 6-year-old dancing dynamo credited with saving Vine, has given way to concern after two more videos of him went viral.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view

In the videos, Terio is in a hotel hallway surrounded by adults clamoring for pictures and forcing him to dance. Terio looks as if he would rather be anywhere else; he is unsmiling and appears sad, dejected and exhausted. Public outcry was intense enough to get the person who originally posted the videos (they came from a Vine account called MADDLADTROY) to remove them hours later.

But the damage had been done. Twitter began several hashtags, like #FreeTerio and #JusticeForTerio, calling for his caretakers to stop putting T-shirt sales and Vine shares above his childhood and happiness. Some of the tweets were funny, but all shared the same concern. Check out some of them below.

https://twitter.com/RoofEOoh/status/369467857454641152
https://twitter.com/StephBMore/status/369466798271258626
https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/369464681380843521
https://twitter.com/502kissababy/status/369462475575406593
https://twitter.com/ProfessorBLove/status/369465868461154305

Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.

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