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Elijah Daniel

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Elijah Daniel
Daniel in 2014
Born (1994-01-09) January 9, 1994 (age 30)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
OccupationComedian
Years active2011–present
Known forTrump Temptations (2016)
Musical career
GenresHip hop
InstrumentVocals
Labels
  • Independent

Elijah Daniel (born January 9, 1994) is an American comedian, rapper, record producer, songwriter, and author. He became popular online through his satirical social media posts.[1] Daniel began rapping under the name Lil Phag in late 2017.[2]

Daniel rose to prominence as the author of the erotic novel Trump Temptations.[3]

Outside of his solo work, Daniel is a part of the EDM/Pop act adam&steve alongside fiancé, Dr. Woke. Billboard has dubbed the duo "the gay Chainsmokers". They have since released six singles featuring Maty Noyes, Sophie Rose, Gnash, JVZEL, XYLØ, and Waterparks.

He won the award for Best Comedian with collaborator Christine Sydelko at the 9th Shorty Awards.[4]

Early life

[edit]

Elijah Daniel was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was raised as an evangelical Christian. After his grandmother became ill, Daniel moved into her residence to care for her.[5] During this period, he began to write comedy to occupy himself.[5] He publicized his comedy work through posts on Twitter.[5][6]

Career

[edit]

2013–2016: Career beginnings

[edit]
White House petition

Daniel led an online White House petition in 2013 to make the Miley Cyrus song "Party in the U.S.A." the U.S. national anthem.[6][7] It received international coverage.[8] Starting in 2014, he began hosting a weekly internet prank with CollegeHumor called Text Prank Thursday, where he would have his Twitter followers text random phone numbers saying whatever he told them to say.[9][10] Daniel told Vice that he cultivated a group of followers online who appreciated his absurd and bizarre comedic antics.[7] By 2016, his Twitter following had grown to over 95,000.[1][11][12]

Work with Christine Sydelko

In January 2017, Daniel and Christine Sydelko released a parody video of the song "Closer" originally by The Chainsmokers, featuring Halsey.[13] The video prompted a response from Halsey, who criticized the parody and Daniel and Sydelko's supporters.[13]

Television pilots

Based on the press he received for his book, Daniel was able to sell two TV series proposals.[7][14][15] In conjunction with production firm PRØHBTD, Daniel was given roles of actor, producer, and creator of the two series.[5] These included one docu-series titled Elijah Daniel is Insane, and one scripted comedy titled Social co-starring Vine comedian Christine Sydelko.[1][5] In October 2016, FOTV Media Networks Inc. announced a business partnership with Daniel and Sydelko to produce a full season of their series Trash, Talking.[16][17]

2016–2018: Political stunts and media attention

[edit]
Trump Temptations

In 2016, Daniel stated on Twitter that he was going to get drunk and write an erotic novel starring Donald Trump.[18][19][20] Daniel was inspired by a tweet which said the user wished to perform a sex act on Bernie Sanders.[3][11] He wrote the work as a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey.[21][22][23] Within four hours, he had released the erotic novel titled Trump Temptations: The Billionaire & The Bellboy on Amazon.[24][25][26] This was Daniel's debut novel.[27]

Trump Temptations became the number one best seller on Amazon.com in three categories: humorous erotica, LGBT erotica, and gay erotica.[14][28][29] The book was listed on Amazon above Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James,[7] and was featured in The Washington Post,[1] Los Angeles Times,[30] GQ,[31] Gay Star News,[32] London Evening Standard,[23] The Daily Telegraph,[12] and Vice.[33] The Guardian classed the work as part of the "small but burgeoning new genre: satirical books about Donald Trump" that began with the 2016 presidential campaign.[34] Cosmopolitan called the book a literary success.[35] Daniel's book attracted 900,000 readers on the Wattpad website.[36][37][38] Daniel hired Trump impersonator Chris Ferretti to read the audiobook.[1][39]

In May 2016, Daniel negotiated a rights deal with film studio NakedSword to turn his novel into a feature film.[36][37][38] They began adapting the story in 2016.[36][38][40] NakedSword stated they were interested in the project due to the absurd nature of the plot.[36][37][38] Trump biographer Marc Shapiro wrote in Trump This! that Daniel's novel was one of the most infamous works capitalizing on interest in Trump.[25] An article in Fortune said that Daniel displayed a Trump-like skill to capitalize on a niche demand.[41]

Hell, Michigan

On August 30, 2017, Elijah Daniel performed a publicity stunt centered around Hell, Michigan – an unincorporated town that allows visitors to pay for the opportunity to hold the title of "mayor" for a day.[42] In what he called "a copy-and-paste of Trump's Muslim ban", he announced a satirical law that banned heterosexuals from entering and living in the town.[43] In response, Daniel released an edited version of The Bible called The Holy Bible... but Gayer two weeks later. Sales of it were briefly banned on Amazon before being restored.[44] On June 17, 2019, Elijah Daniel claimed that he briefly "bought" the incorporated hamlet of Hell, Michigan, changed its name to Gay Hell, Michigan and created a law prohibiting any flag other than pride flags from flying in the town. This was done in retaliation to the Trump administration's ban on the flying of the gay pride flag by U.S. embassies.[45][non-primary source needed]

Television

In November 2017, Daniel, Christine Sydelko, and Tana Mongeau appeared on a segment of The Maury Povich Show. In this segment, Christine and Daniel pretended to be engaged, him proposing to her at Taco Bell. Christine feared Daniel was cheating on her with Mongeau, but Daniel's lie detector results revealed he was actually cheating on her with men.[46]

2019–present: Music

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Since 2017, Daniel has been releasing hip-hop music under the stage name Lil Phag. He has released two extended plays and one studio album under the moniker, as well as a slew of singles featuring artists including Cupcakke, Bella Thorne, Tana Mongeau, and Dr. Woke, the latter of whom produced most of his music. The pair have since gone on to pursue their own musical project, Adam&Steve, which has a more EDM sound.

Personal life

[edit]

Daniel is gay.[47]

LGBT advocacy

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After the Orlando nightclub shooting in June 2016, Daniel on Twitter publicly urged any closeted people to feel free to contact him privately for support,[48] and he published "An open letter to the LGBT kids who feel lost and scared" on Fusion.net.[48][49] The letter was positively received by ATTN:, which called it a powerful commentary on the attack.[48]

After receiving homophobic death threats via Twitter, in July 2016 Daniel messaged someone he believed to be the parents of the user about the incident and publicly posted a screenshot of his message to them.[50][51] His response was praised by Metro News and Elite Daily.

In 2021, Daniel started a virtual restaurant called GayBurger, a viral marketing campaign to raise money for the Los Angeles LGBT Center.[52]

[edit]

On February 23, 2016, Daniel was detained and question by the United States Secret service, while attending a Donald Trump campaign rally in Sparks, Nevada. Daniel had been hiding a "2-foot glittery pink dildo" in his pants, in hopes to throw the object at Trump during the rally. He was released without arrest, however was barred from attending any further Trump rallies.[53][54]

Reception

[edit]

Elijah Daniel and Christine Sydelko jointly won Best Comedian from the Shorty Awards in 2017.[55][56] Daniel received positive reception for his comedy posted via video blogging and social media from Heavy.com,[57] Paper,[5] The Washington Post,[1] and The Daily Dot.[6]

Discography

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Studio albums

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  • God Hates Lil Phag (2018)

Extended plays

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  • ResERECTION (2019)
  • Antichrist (2019)
  • The Final Album (2019) No. 138 US[58]

Singles

[edit]

As lead artist[59]

Title Year Album
"Phaggot" 2017 God Hates Lil Phag
"Elton John"
(with Hoodie Allen and Dr. Woke)
"Gucci Christmas"
(with Dr. Woke) 		Non-album single
"Deadahh"
(with Tana Mongeau and Dr. Woke) 		God Hates Lil Phag
"Phucked Ur Dad" Non-album single
"Clout 9"
(with Bella Thorne, Tana Mongeau and Dr. Woke) 		2018 God Hates Lil Phag
":)"
(with Mod Sun and Dr. Woke)
"Rick and Morty"
(with Rico Nasty and Dr. Woke)
"3AM Anxiety"
(with Dr. Woke)
"Iced Out Dick"
(with Cupcakke and Dr. Woke)
"Third Eye Gucci"
(with Dr. Woke) 		TBA
"It's My Money, And I Need It Now"
(with Dr. Woke) 		God Hates Lil Phag
"ERRYBODYGAY"
(with Dr. Woke featuring Lil B and Baha Bla$t) 		2019 ResERECTION
"F*CKGOD"
(featuring S8N) 		Antichrist

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Director Notes
2014 Lost River Actor: Big Bad Wolf Club Member Ryan Gosling [60]
Happy Ending Actor: Lonely Guy Texting At The Bar / Pedestrian Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru [61]
2017 Division 19 Actor: Pedestrian S.A. Halewood [62]

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
2013 Low Winter Sun Actor: Concession Stand Boy Episodes 8 and 9, Season 1[63][64]
2015 12 Monkeys Actor: Survivor Pilot episode[65]
2016 DSN: Drunk Shopping Network Himself Episode #1.16[66]
Givit Wednesday Producer, writer, editor, actor Givit.com[67][68]
Trash, Talking Producer, writer FOTV Media Networks Inc.[16][17]

Music videos

[edit]
Year Title Artist Director Notes
2013 "Badman" B.A.P Hong Won-ki of ZanyBros [69]
2017 "Bing Bong" ("Closer" parody) Elijah Daniel & Christine Sydelko Tom Harlock [13][70]
2017 "Young Dumb & Broke" Khalid [71]

Tours

[edit]
Headlining
  • Probably A Terrible Rap Matinee Tour (2018) (with Dr. Woke)
  • The Final Tour: First Installment (2020) (with Dr. Woke)

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Award Category Work Result Notes
2017 Shorty Awards Best Comedian Elijah Daniel & Christine Sydelko – Winner in Comedy Won [55][72][4]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f Andrews-Dyer, Helena (January 26, 2016), "The 7 best punchlines from the Trump erotica e-book that's currently No. 1 on Amazon", The Washington Post, archived from the original on July 16, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  2. ^ "Everything You Need to Know About LIL PHAG, the LGBTQ Prankster | Study Breaks". Study Breaks. July 1, 2018. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Binder, Shawn (January 22, 2016). "Talking to the guy who got drunk, wrote Donald Trump gay erotica, and put it on Amazon". Fusion.net. Archived from the original on October 15, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  4. ^ a b Lee, Ashley (January 17, 2017), "Shorty Awards Nominees Include Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Bell, Leslie Jones (Exclusive)", The Hollywood Reporter, archived from the original on June 24, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  5. ^ a b c d e f Binder, Shawn (January 26, 2016). "Catching Up With Elijah Daniel on His Viral Trump Erotic Novel". Paper. Archived from the original on December 10, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c O'Hara, Mary Emily (January 27, 2016), "This drunk guy's hot gay Donald Trump fanfic is making America horny again", The Daily Dot, archived from the original on August 5, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  7. ^ a b c d "Hoe een homo-erotische novelle over Donald Trump een bestseller werd", HP/De Tijd (in Dutch), Netherlands, January 28, 2016, ISSN 0924-9648, OCLC 783712545, archived from the original on April 7, 2016, retrieved July 22, 2017
  8. ^ * "Hoe een homo-erotische novelle over Donald Trump een bestseller werd". HP/De Tijd (in Dutch). Netherlands. January 28, 2016. ISSN 0924-9648. OCLC 783712545. Archived from the original on April 7, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  9. ^ Daniel, Elijah (March 6, 2014). "Epic Twitter Prank: What Happens When You Text a Stranger "Your Girlfriend Needs to Know About Us"". CollegeHumor. Archived from the original on June 14, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  10. ^ Grant, Hannah (March 13, 2014). "Text Prank Thursday: What Happens When You Tell A Stranger You Slept With His Girlfriend". CollegeHumor. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  11. ^ a b Donohoe, Rose (January 26, 2016), "Donald Trump stars in 'sensual and tawdry' erotic novel", The New Daily, retrieved July 18, 2017
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  13. ^ a b c Grannum, Patricia (March 4, 2017), "Halsey claps back at YouTuber for 'Bingbong' parody video, mocking her fans", Inquisitr, archived from the original on July 29, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  14. ^ a b Solis, Marie (January 27, 2016), "New Erotic Novella 'Trump Temptation' Is Probably a Great Beach Read — If You're Into That", Mic, retrieved July 18, 2017, As of this writing, the book is No. 1 on both Amazon's 'gay erotica' and 'humorous erotica' bestseller lists.
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  16. ^ a b Stevens, Jeff (October 12, 2016), "Does Donald Trump Have The Midas Touch?", Shockya, archived from the original on July 19, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
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  19. ^ Nagesh, Ashitha (January 22, 2016), "Someone wrote an erotic novel all about Donald Trump and you can now buy it on Amazon", Metro News, archived from the original on April 4, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  20. ^ Brathwaite, Les Fabian (January 26, 2016), "Gay Erotic Novella Starring Donald Trump Becomes #1 Bestseller", Out, archived from the original on March 8, 2016, retrieved July 18, 2017
  21. ^ Taylor, Chris (January 22, 2016), "Trump erotica vs. Cruz erotica: Who wins the primary of porn?", Mashable, archived from the original on December 1, 2016, retrieved July 18, 2017
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  23. ^ a b Butter, Susannah (January 27, 2016), "How the internet trumped Donald Trump with cat combovers and erotica", Evening Standard, archived from the original on January 27, 2016, retrieved July 18, 2017
  24. ^ Barrell, Ryan (January 26, 2016), "'Trump Temptation: The Billionaire And The Bellboy' Is The Donald Trump Erotic Novel You Never Knew You Needed", HuffPost, archived from the original on March 24, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  25. ^ a b Shapiro, Marc (2016), Trump This!: The Life and Times of Donald Trump, An Unauthorized Biography, Riverdale Avenue Books, p. 80, ISBN 978-1-62601-264-6
  26. ^ Duffy, Nick (January 26, 2016), Someone wrote gay erotica about Donald Trump and it's as bad as you think, archived from the original on May 31, 2016, retrieved July 18, 2017
  27. ^ Gauthier, Brendan (January 26, 2016), "'Leathery yet frigid flesh of a privileged and hypocritical billionaire': The Amazon reviews for Donald Trump gay erotica satire are amazing", Salon, archived from the original on March 16, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  28. ^ "Erotic Donald Trump novella tops Amazon charts", The Week, January 26, 2016, archived from the original on May 9, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  29. ^ Ellefson, Lindsey (January 26, 2016), "Amazon Customers Make Erotica Great Again by Making Sexy Trump Novella Top E-Book", Mediaite, archived from the original on July 31, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  30. ^ Schaub, Michael (January 26, 2017). "Donald Trump erotica novel is a huuuge hit on Amazon". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  31. ^ Moore, Jack (January 25, 2016), "Politics – The 9 Best Quotes from the Erotic Donald Trump eBook That's Blowing Up on Amazon", GQ, archived from the original on January 31, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  32. ^ Morgan, Joe (January 27, 2016), "The 7 most hilarious lines from the gay kinky sex novel about Donald Trump", Gay Star News, archived from the original on March 18, 2016, retrieved July 18, 2017
  33. ^ McManus, Brian (January 22, 2016). "Meet the Comedian Who Wrote a Hit Erotic Novella Starring Donald Trump". Vice. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  34. ^ Flood, Alison (July 27, 2016), "Picture books and porn: mini-boom in satirical titles inspired by Donald Trump", The Guardian, archived from the original on June 7, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  35. ^ Smothers, Hannah (January 25, 2016), "9 Steamy Excerpts From Donald Trump Erotica That Will Leave You Hot and Bothered", Cosmopolitan, archived from the original on January 18, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  36. ^ a b c d Whigham, Nick (May 25, 2016), "Erotic novella about Donald Trump to be made into a film", News.com.au, archived from the original on July 5, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  37. ^ a b c Sankin, Aaron (May 24, 2016), "A best-selling erotic novel about Donald Trump is being made into full-blown porn", The Daily Dot, archived from the original on July 5, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  38. ^ a b c d Soldani, Bianca (May 25, 2016), "Brace yourselves, Donald Trump erotic fiction is being turned into a porno", SBS, retrieved July 18, 2017
  39. ^ Gaw, Kathryn (January 29, 2016), "Trump Temptations: The Billionaire & The Bellboy – Donald Trump wins new fans as erotica novel climbs Amazon's bestseller charts", City A.M., archived from the original on March 16, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  40. ^ Headspeath, Andrew (May 25, 2016), "A Donald Trump gay porn parody in the works", Attitude, archived from the original on September 1, 2016, retrieved July 18, 2017
  41. ^ Bukszpan, Daniel (May 26, 2016), "Make Your Coffee Table Great Again. Here's All of the Books Coming Out About Trump", Fortune, archived from the original on August 3, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  42. ^ Moye, David (August 30, 2017). "Mayor Of Hell, Inspired By Trump, Declares Heterosexuality Illegal". HuffPost. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  43. ^ "Comedian Becomes 'Mayor' Of Hell, Michigan; Bans Heterosexuals From Entering Town". Archived from the original on August 31, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2017.
  44. ^ Moye, David (September 18, 2017). "Former Mayor Of Hell Rewrites Bible To Make It Really, Really Gay". HuffPost. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  45. ^ Daniel, Elijah (June 17, 2019). "Michigan". Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  46. ^ Is Elijah Cheating on Christine with Tana? | The Maury Show, November 15, 2017, retrieved August 25, 2019
  47. ^ Tenbarge, Kat. "How an internet comedian pivoted to a career in music with an in-your-face gay rap that has teens traveling for hours to see his shows". Insider. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
  48. ^ a b c Tongco, Tricia (June 14, 2016), "Elijah Daniel's Powerful Response to the Orlando Attack", ATTN:, archived from the original on August 4, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  49. ^ Daniel, Elijah (June 13, 2016), "An open letter to the LGBT kids who feel lost and scared", Fusion.net, retrieved July 18, 2017[permanent dead link]
  50. ^ Gladwell, Hattie (July 20, 2016), "Man handles receiving homophobic death threats incredibly calmly", Metro News, archived from the original on August 4, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  51. ^ MacDonald, Alec (July 20, 2016), "Guy Had Best Response To Man Sending Him Homophobic Death Threats", Elite Daily, retrieved July 18, 2017
  52. ^ Street, Mikelle (February 11, 2021). "Elijah Daniel's GayBurger Is the Perfect Charitable Project Right Now". Out Magazine. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  53. ^ "Meet The Guy Who Got Arrested For Trying To Throw A Dildo At Donald Trump". pedestrian.tv. May 11, 2016. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  54. ^ Barrell, Ryan (February 24, 2016). "So This Guy Got Arrested For Trying To Throw A Glittery Dildo At Donald Trump". HuffPost. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
  55. ^ a b "From the 9th Annual Shorty Awards – Elijah Daniel & Christine Sydelko – Winner in Comedy", 9th Annual Shorty Awards, Shorty Awards, April 23, 2017, archived from the original on June 6, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017
  56. ^ "Christine Sydelko and Elijah Daniel Shorty Awards Winner Interview", Shorty Awards (video), April 26, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017 – via YouTube
  57. ^ Orfanides, Effie (July 5, 2017), "Elijah Daniel Death Hoax Confuses Fans", Heavy.com, archived from the original on July 6, 2017, retrieved July 17, 2017
  58. ^ @billboardcharts (January 6, 2020). "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200" (Tweet). Retrieved January 7, 2020 – via Twitter.
  59. ^ "LIL PHAG". Spotify. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  60. ^ Gosling, Ryan (2014), Lost River, Warner Bros.
  61. ^ D.K., Krishna; Nidimoru, Raj (2014), Happy Ending, Eros International
  62. ^ Halewood, S.A. (2017), Division 19, Gas Station 8
  63. ^ Hemingway, Anthony (October 6, 2013), "Season 1, Episode 9: Ann Arbor", Low Winter Sun
  64. ^ Davidson, Adam (September 29, 2013), "Season 1, Episode 8: Revelations", Low Winter Sun, AMC
  65. ^ Reiner, Jeffrey (January 16, 2015), "Pilot episode", 12 Monkeys, Syfy
  66. ^ Sewell, Justin (May 29, 2016), "Episode #1.16", DSN: Drunk Shopping Network, Funny Or Die
  67. ^ Farrell, Mark (October 19, 2016), "Hillary vs. Trump Dodgeball", Givit Wednesday
  68. ^ Abramson, Lew (July 27, 2016), "Puppies & Tattoos – Marlon Wayans/Alison Eastwood", Givit Wednesday
  69. ^ Won-ki, Hong (2013), Badman, B.A.P
  70. ^ Harlock, Tom (2017), Bing Bong: Official Video, Closer by the Chainsmokers & Halsey Parody, Elijah Daniel & Christine Sydelko – via YouTube
  71. ^ KhalidVEVO (August 1, 2017), Khalid – Young Dumb & Broke (Official Video), retrieved August 9, 2017
  72. ^ Spangler, Todd (March 2, 2017), "Shorty Awards 2017 Social-Media Finalists Announced", Variety, archived from the original on March 3, 2017, retrieved July 18, 2017

Further reading

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[edit]
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