The mum of a young boy who starred in a viral video that got more than a million views on YouTube, has hit out at sick abuse directed at her son.

Eight-year-old Ava-Lily and her brother Logan, six, made a short video during the half-term holidays to send to their mother Sasha Carrington-Moss, while they were staying at their dad’s house in Iwade.

In the clip entitled ‘mean vs meaning’, the siblings say ‘hi’ to their mother before Ava-Lily says her step-brother George is “meaning to say hello”.

Watch: The original video, that has amassed more than one million views

Six-year-old George, however, misunderstands her and thinks he is being called ‘mean’, which he vociferously denies.

“There’s more to this misunderstanding than meets the eye. George was born with a cleft lip and palate. He had surgery at three months to correct his lip and then at nine months to correct his palate" - Mum Sasha

Immediately after the clip was uploaded to YouTube its popularity snowballed, with American talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres even posting it on her website.

However, as well as those who found the video endearing, there were a proportion of people who targeted George, calling him dumb.

Now George’s mother, Sophie Dawkins, who is married to Ava-Lily and Logan’s dad, has called on people to be more considerate when making comments online.

She said: “There’s more to this misunderstanding than meets the eye. George was born with a cleft lip and palate. He had surgery at three months to correct his lip and then at nine months to correct his palate.

“He was then diagnosed at the age of four as being completely deaf in his left ear and with severe glue ear in his right ear despite hearing tests throughout his life.

“This resulted in severe speech and language delays.

“The video shows he still struggles, so for all the people that may think George was just not listening, or misheard, in actual fact he just genuinely misunderstood and doesn’t understand
the meaning of ‘meaning’.”

She is now hoping the video will help raise awareness for a cleft lip and palate charity, CLAPA, which helped George when he was born.

On Monday, George’s uncle Bradley Clayton is running the Milton Keynes marathon to raise money for the organisation.

To sponsor Bradley visit his JustGiving page.

Visit the charity's website for more details about CLAPA.