Autistic boy, 7, becomes overnight YouTube sensation after sister's candid appeal

29 May 2020, 13:46 | Updated: 29 May 2020, 13:51

By Mared Parry

@maredparry

Frank's eldest sibling Mia, 20, didn't expect to go viral on Twitter and is overwhelmed by the support.

A young boy with a passion for making YouTube videos has seen his internet star dreams come true after his sister asked for a "favour" on Twitter.

Mia Doherty, 20, had watched her younger brother Frankie Foster make YouTube videos for over a year without much success when she decided to post on her Twitter account, hoping to gain him a few extra subscribers.

Frank, seven, has autism, and Mia explained in the Tweet: "my little brother is autistic and doesn’t have many friends.

"He makes YouTube videos and god love him they are absolutely awful, but he’s only 7 and he thinks they’re the best thing ever and he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t get views or subscribers"

Heart.co.uk spoke to Mia, who explained that Frank only had six subscribers on his account at the time, and his videos hadn't even made it into the triple figures.

She told us: "I honestly thought when I posted the tweet I’d get him a few more followers, I almost didn’t tweet it as I didn’t see the point, but I thought if it even gets him one extra subscriber it would absolutely make his day."

From here, things seriously snowballed! At the moment, Mia's Tweet has over 53,000 likes and she's had hundreds of supportive comments about her appeal to cheer up Frank.

He's currently reached 32.8k subscribers, which is pretty hefty! A video he posted only three weeks ago, explaining he was 'quitting YouTube' as no one watched his videos is now on over 64,000 views.

The accounts are monitored by Frank's family and comments have been turned off for his safety.

Of course the seven-year-old, who lives in Leighton Buzzard with his mother, father and 13-year-old sister Lily is absolutely overjoyed with the support.

Frank Foster and sister Lily are overwhelmed by the support of his YouTube channel

In an exclusive video for Heart, Mia asks Frankie what his thoughts are on his new found fame, to which he says: "I feel great about them!

"I've got 20k and I'm YouTube famous because of all the subscribers!'

He added: "everyone's given me lots of nice comments."

Mia explained that in 24 hours Frank's channel had shot up to 20,000 subscribers and that the whole family are overwhelmed with the support.

She added: "We know his videos are just a bit of fun and perhaps not the usual standard of YouTubers but to him they are his masterpieces and he is so proud. We all are!"

The caring sister also told us: "Me and Frank have always been close.

"At home we see a side to him that perhaps other people don’t see, due to the way he handles social situations, but these videos capture that side to Frank and that’s what we love about them."

You can subscribe to Frankie's channel here