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Cara Cunningham

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Template:Infobox Internet celebrity

Chris Crocker (born December 1987)[1] is the pseudonym of an openly gay[2] YouTube and MySpace personality, video director, actor,[1] and self-professed edutainer[3] based in Tennessee.[4] His real name is unknown.[5]

Although he has produced dozens of videos, his "tear-stained" video defending Britney Spears' "lackluster MTV comeback"[6][7][8] performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards[8][9] shot to the top of YouTube[10] with over four million views in two days and received international media attention[11][12][13][14] as well as death threats for the androgynous[15] teenager.[16]

Crocker's videos are often cross-posted to MySpace where his profile is amongst the most-viewed with his collected videos on that site having nearly 29 million plays as of September 2007.[17]

Biography

Early years

Crocker lives in the South[2] and was home-schooled after being harassed by a homophobic high-school gym coach.[1] Crocker lives with his Pentecostal grandmother[18] who has reluctantly appeared in some of his videos. His uncensored and "unfiltered" work has been attributed to his isolation of being flamboyantly gay in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt.[2] Likewise his sexuality as an outspoken gay teen remains a "subtext...rarely addressed directly and never completely accepted."[2] When Crocker's grandmother found out he was gay she "said that I needed an exorcism."[2] Crocker laments the lack of gay culture saying "The only gay-pride parade where I live is in my bedroom."[19] "We don't have pride and rainbows here. We have MySpace. We don't have bathhouses. We have outhouses."[20]

Crocker started uploading videos of his "singularly bizarre and angry take on gay life and his intolerant town" in June of 2006 but his prior experience with online networking started years prior as an editor of an e-zine where he met his first boyfriend who he only was able to interact with online and by phone.[2] Crocker later found another online forum where his acting skills helped him blend in on a free phone party line run out of Los Angeles "filled with flaming black men, black drag queens, and trannies from Compton" where he was outed as white and soon dubbed "Cracker."[2]

Building a following

Although his chart-topping video defending Britney Spears drew the attention of the wider public, Crocker was already among the most-watched video producers on MySpace and YouTube[5] having gathered what MSNBC described as a "cult following."[16] A handful of the more than sixty videos he posted to the two social networking websites had already been viewed more than a million times and his YouTube channel was in the top rankings and since September 2007 is the 20th most subscribed of all time.[21] In May 2007, Crocker was the subject of a lengthy profile in the Seattle's alternative weekly The Stranger.[2] His rise to "psuedo-celebrity" status mirrors the recent success of the online video business over the past year and a half[22] fueled, in part, because "the more absurd the clip, the more people will watch it, thanks to a feature that allows emailing clips to friends."[23]

On September 6, 2007, The Top (& Bottom) Gays of You Tube!, the first all-gay collaboration video by YouTube's most subscribed vloggers was posted by Michael Buckley (What The Buck?!) to create a "YouTube gay village." Featuring Crocker, evoking a deeply affected character, William Sledd and "Gay God" (Matthew Lush) each of the four vloggers commented on the others' online vlogging with Buckley weaving the various outtakes together and hosting the collaboration. Buckley remarked that Crocker is a unique talent and "one of the most creative video producers on YouTube."[24] In the all-time rankings for most channel subscribers Sledd is 5th, Gay God is 16th, What The Buck?! 18th and Crocker's channel - It's Chris Crocker, 20th.[21] Comedy duo Smosh, owners of the most subscribed channel, were invited to participate although they are not believed to be gay but they declined. The video has been viewed over 395,000 times with nearly 4,000 comments.[24]

"Leave Britney Alone"

Part 1

On September 9, 2007 the video Leave Britney Alone pt.1 was posted to Crocker's MySpace page with a heartfelt Crocker stating that we do not want Britney Spears to spiral out of control like Anna Nicole Smith who had died months prior in February 2007. As of September 2007 the video has been viewed over two million times and has over 41,000 comments.[25]

Part 2

File:Chris Crocker on frontpage.jpg
Frontpage of news.com.au

Crocker is most notable for his LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE! video in which he lashes out[26] at gossip columnists, such as Perez Hilton, and reality TV star Simon Cowell,[27] who critiqued Britney Spears's onstage music performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas.[28] Within the first 24 hours of its posting the video had accumulated over 2 million views[5] and has had over six million views and is one of the most discussed videos on YouTube with over 83,000 comments as of September 2007.[29] The video received worldwide attention[30] often being shown in conjunction with news footage of Spears' performance[31] and was called "pure performance art."[15]

It has since become its own news story, with media stories and the gossip industry offering opinions on the phenomena even joking that Crocker could be "an insidious satiric mastermind."[32] In the video, a hysterical[33] and teary-eyed Crocker[12] proclaims "All you people care about is readers and making money off of her. She's a human! Leave Britney alone!"[34] Crocker has insisted that his emotions were genuine[35] despite "admitting" it was a second take[4] which he subsequently denied on Jimmy Kimmel Live stating that although he often is acting his tears were real and he was misquoted.[18] The video was the second of two parts not the second take; the first, less emotional part is still available online but is far less popular.

The Leave Britney Alone video has become a satire target, with over 750[36] video responses including Perez Hilton, Jimmy Kimmel, Rove McManus, a masked Storm Trooper and actor Seth Green. Green's parody, which included the actor re-applying his Crocker-esque eyeliner several times and inserting a plug for Robot Chicken, called for people to "leave Chris Crocker alone!"[37] Other parodies of Crocker's video include a "George W Bush" begging people "to leave General Petraeus alone."

Crocker produced a follow-up video[38] specifically addressing what he felt was unfair treatment from "Republican, conservative, homophobic channel" Fox News[39] for allegedly calling him a she/he and questioning his gender.[39]

Future plans

Prior to the attention from his September 2007 Leave Britney Alone video, Crocker was seen as viral[2] and was asked by MTV pioneering vlogger and news staffer Matt Sunbulli[40] to provide video for MTV's website[2] which also broadcasts on MTV itself.[40] Crocker has indicated that he hopes to develop his acting career[4] and has agreed to develop ideas for a TV show with Los Angeles producer Glenn Meehan[2] and has met with representatives from MTV's gay-themed channel LOGO.[4]

In a June 20, 2007 autobiographical comic strip, where Crocker discusses future plans, he states, "I'm going to make the leap from living with my Pentecostal grandparents to living with drag queen roommates. I'm going to star in my own TV show. I'm going to make the leap from outhouses to bathhouses...to my very own house."[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c Dempster, Michael (September 12, 2007). "More From "Real Bitch Island"". Howard Stern.com. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sanders, Eli (2007-06-30), "Escape from Real Bitch Island", The Stranger, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Chris Crocker channel page was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c d Goldman, Russell (September 12, 2007), "Legions of the Loyal Britney's Fans Defend Her Online", ABC News, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ a b c "Talking to the "Leave Britney Alone!" guy", Machinist @ Salon.com, 2007-09-12, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Spears to Appear at Primetime Emmys?". San Francisco Chronicle. September 14 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Abowitz, Richard (September 9, 2007). "Britney gives a whole lot less on "Gimme More"". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  8. ^ a b BBC journalists (September 10 2007). "BBC report on MTV Award Show performance". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-09-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ editors from TimesOnline.co.uk (September 10, 2007). ""Oops! Britney Spears forgets the words in catastrophic return to stage" confirmed by Times Online". TimesOnline.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-09-10. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  10. ^ Ramirez, Ramon (September 13, 2007). "Britney Spears: Bombshell or just plain bomb?". The Daily Texan. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ "Video: Gay Men's Online War Over Britney Spears". Javno.hr, Croatia. September 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  12. ^ a b Davies, Shaun (September 12, 2007). "Screaming Britney Defense Becomes Net Phenomenon". National Nine News, Austrailia. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  13. ^ Sankey, Daniel (September 12, 2007). "Leave Britney alone!". Sydney Herald News. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  14. ^ Teckemeier, Nanna Louise (September 12, 2007). "Gal Britney-fan hitter på Youtube". Ekstra Bladet (Norway). Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  15. ^ a b Roeper, Richard (September 13, 2007). "Coffee, tea, or how 'bout a decent outfit?: Now THAT'S a performance". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  16. ^ a b Popkin, Helen A.S. (September 13, 2007). "'Leave Britney Alone!': Tear-stained video plea makes YouTube vlogger an Internet rock star". MSNBC. Retrieved 2007-09-13. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  17. ^ "Chris Crocker's Videos". MySpace. September 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  18. ^ a b visiontellie2 (September 14, 2007). "Chris Crocker "Leave Britney Alone" Jimmy Kimmel Live". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ strangervideo (August 14, 2007). "Chris Crocker on Seattle Gay Pride". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  20. ^ a b Crocker, Chris (20 June, 2007). "What You Need To Know About...2008". The Stranger. Retrieved 2007-09-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  21. ^ a b "Most Subscribed : (All Time)". YouTube. 15 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  22. ^ Perez, Juan Carlos (September 13, 2007). "US online video popularity keeps climbing". MacWorld. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  23. ^ Zawadski, Alison (September 13, 2007). "A Work in Progress". Le Provocateur. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  24. ^ a b Buckley, Michael (September 6, 2007). "THE TOP (& Bottom) GAYS OF YOU TUBE!". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  25. ^ Crocker, Chris (September 9, 2007). "Leave Britney Alone pt.1". MySpace. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  26. ^ Camp, Todd (September 14, 2007). "Blab!: All-Britney Terror Alert:Things We Should Be Worried About This Week". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 2007-09-15. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  27. ^ Archer, Lincoln (September 13, 2007), "Leave Britney alone, she's not well", Melbourne Herald Sun, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  28. ^ "Simon Cowell says Britney Spears's career may be over", News.com.au, 2007-09-12, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  29. ^ Crocker, Chris (September 11, 2007). "Leave Britney Alone!". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-14. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  30. ^ "«Lasciate Britney» Il pianto di un fan trionfa su YouTube (1.8 Million visits; "Left Britney" Plant of a fan prevails on YouTube)". La Gazzetta dello Sport. September 13, 2007; Section: Gazzetta; Page 34. Retrieved 2007-09-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  31. ^ "The Situation Room: Transcripts". CNN. September 11, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  32. ^ Weinberger, Jill (September 12, 2007). "«Leave Britney Alone, Chris Crocker Cries!". The Daily Reel. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  33. ^ "Britney Spears fan Chris Crocker screams for fans to "leave Britney alone!"". TransWorldNews. September 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  34. ^ Sankey, Daniel (September 12, 2007), "Leave Britney alone!", The Age, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  35. ^ Lyn Pesce, Nicole (September 13, 2007), "Obsessive Britney Spears fan lashes critics in YouTube video", New York Daily News, retrieved 2007-09-13 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  36. ^ "YouTube user gets internet fame after defending Britney Spears". Afriqu Enligne. September 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  37. ^ "Seth Green Chris Crocker Outtakes". MySpace. September 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  38. ^ Jones, Anthony (September 14, 2007). "Poor FOX "News"." YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  39. ^ a b lacohenga, Josh (September 13, 2007). "Chris Crocker on FOX News". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-09-14.
  40. ^ a b Gannes, Liz (January 26, 2007). "The Deal with MTV's First Videoblog". NewTeeVee. Retrieved 2007-09-14.

See also

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