YouTube user Chris Crocker experienced instant fame after posting a video on YouTube defending Britney Spears, titled "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" The video is a two minute, eleven second top-down view of his face as he speaks against her exploitation for money.

It attracted huge media attention, with an interview by CNN and stories by such sources as MSNBC. Comments have been mixed, with a number of insults regarding his emotional defense and effeminate appearance, alongside more supportive statements concerning his message.

The video's popularity has drawn attention to his channel and older videos, which have experienced a sharp increase in viewers. As of 14 September, the original YouTube video had been viewed nearly 5 million times (in addition to numerous mirrors elsewhere), and received nearly 69000 direct comments (including unrelated or spam comments), and was favourited by nearly 11000 users.

He has since posted a follow-up video about FOX News, speaking about how he has been mistreated by the media.

Chris Crocker (born December 1987) is an openly gay Tennessee-based YouTube and MySpace personality and self-described edutainer who produces and acts in transgressive videos. According to Crocker, safety concerns over death threats he has received have forced him to keep his identity and exact location private. Crocker is his stage name. His work consists mainly of short-form self-directed "monologues about life" shot in his grandparents' home. As of October 2007, Crocker's videos have received a combined 40.2 million plays on MySpace, and his vlog channel on YouTube is the 14th most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 48.7 million views.

Although he has produced dozens of videos, Crocker gained international notoriety from his viral video tearfully defending Britney Spears's "lackluster MTV comeback" with over four million views in two days. The video received international media attention, as well as generating death threats for the androgynous teenager.

Crocker's detractors and critics have accused him of melodramatics, histrionics, and using Spears' personal shortcomings to bolster his own fame. Others have accused Crocker of acting in the "Leave Britney Alone" video, although he insisted that it was a genuine "blog from the heart" on a September 20, 2007 appearance on the Maury Povich show. Psychologist Kevin Leman noted in an interview that pointed to Crocker, that voyeuristic fascination with celebrity "says that we live in a morally corrupt society" and that younger people seeking fame, like Crocker, are hedonistic attention-seeking mongers.

On September 18, 2007, Variety revealed that Crocker has signed a development deal with 44 Blue Productions to star in a documentary-style reality television show.

Biography

Early life and background

Crocker "raised eyebrows" by bringing Barbie dolls to kindergarten for show-and-tell rather than the toys or action figures usually associated with boys. He lives in the Southern United States and was homeschooled in response to constant "death threats, bullying and glares at his clothes and makeup",^[8] and specifically after allegedly being "harassed by a homophobic high school gym coach".

Crocker lives with his fundamentalist Pentecostal grandparents who continued raising him when his teenage parents were not able; while his grandfather reportedly knows little about his Internet fame, his grandmother has reluctantly appeared in some of his videos. His uncensored and "unfiltered" work has been attributed to his isolation as an "effeminate, Southern, flamboyantly gay" adolescent in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt.^[2] His sexual orientation and outspokenness have been described as a "subtext... rarely addressed directly and never completely accepted" in his hometown.^[2] According to Crocker, when his grandmother found out that he was gay, she initially "said that [he] needed an exorcism". Crocker, who laments his town's lack of gay culture, said, "The only gay pride parade where I live is in my bedroom." He added, "We don't have pride and rainbows here. We have MySpace. We don't have bathhouses. We have outhouses."

Crocker's earliest experience with online networking was as an editor of an e-zine, where he met his first boyfriend, with whom he only was able to interact online and by phone. 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 recently outed as white and dubbed "Cracker".^[2] In June 2006, after years of experience on the Internet, Crocker started uploading self-produced videos, characterized as his "singularly bizarre and angry take on gay life and his intolerant town".

Building a following

Although his chart-topping video defending Britney Spears drew the attention of the wider public, Crocker had already become one of the most-watched video producers on MySpace and YouTube having gathered what MSNBC described as a "cult following". Prior to Crocker's defense of Spears, some of the more than sixty videos he had 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. In May 2007, Crocker was the subject of a lengthy profile in the Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger. His rise to "pseudo-celebrity" status mirrors the recent success of the online video business from early 2006 through 2007, fueled, in part, because "the more absurd the clip, the more people will watch it, thanks to a feature that allows e-mailing clips to friends."

Leave Britney Alone

On September 9, 2007 the video "Leave Britney Alone pt.1" was posted to Crocker's MySpace page, while the better-known "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" (part 2) was posted to both MySpace and YouTube. In "Leave Britney Alone pt.1", an emotional Crocker stated that he did not want fellow Southerner Britney Spears to spiral out of control like Anna Nicole Smith, who had died in February 2007. As of October 2007, the video has been viewed over 3 million times and has 50,000 comments. It is just a few seconds shorter than the second part, and Crocker, although emotional, remains relatively calm and composed, becoming teary only at the very end.

[ youtube:URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmvkRoEowc

Crocker is most notable for his "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" video, posted September 11, 2007 to YouTube, in which he lashes out at gossip columnists such as Perez Hilton, and at reality TV star Simon Cowell, who criticized Britney Spears' onstage music performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas. Within the first 24 hours of its posting, the video had accumulated over 2 million views. It has had over 12 million views and is the 2nd most discussed video of all time on the site, with over 178,000 comments as of October 2007. "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" is one of YouTube's fastest "climbing" videos, reaching the minimum seven million views needed (as of September 2007) to be included in the "Top 100". The video received worldwide attention and earned Crocker interviews on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Today Show, The Howard Stern Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM morning show. Crocker and his video were also commented on in the mainstream media by shows like The View.

Although sometimes shown in conjunction with news footage of Spears' performance, the "pure performance art" video has become its own story, with the media and gossip industry offering opinions on the phenomenon and even joking that Crocker could be "an insidious satiric mastermind" and compared him to Andy Kaufman. In the video, Crocker hysterically proclaims, "All you people care about is readers and making money off of her. She's a human! Leave Britney alone!" Crocker has insisted that although he is often acting in his videos, his emotions in "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" were genuine and "straight from the heart"; although he described the clip as a "second take" in one interview, he clarified on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he meant that it was the second part of a longer video, the first part being "Leave Britney Alone pt. 1".

Parodies

The "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" video has become a satire target, with over 750 video responses, including ones by Perez Hilton, Jimmy Kimmel, Rove McManus, a masked Imperial Stormtrooper, the Manic Times magazine by Charles Firth where it was changed to Leave John Howard alone and actor Seth Green. Green's parody, which included the actor re-applying his Crocker-esque eyeliner several times and inserting a plug for Green's show Robot Chicken, called for people to "leave Chris Crocker alone!" Other parodies of Crocker's video include one of a George W. Bush impersonator begging people "to leave General Petraeus alone" in reference to the Iraq War and one of American football team New England Patriots fans begging people to leave coach Bill Belichick alone. Most of the video responses ridiculed Crocker's hysterical diatribe as that of a "drama queen" seeking attention.

Response to Fox News

While numerous news and media outlets, including CNN, mocked or ridiculed Crocker's video, he singled out FOX News' commentators with two follow-up videos, Poor FOX "News".. and Rosie O'Donnell was right about FOX "News" (originally posted as "Dear Fox 'News'"), addressing what he stated was unfair treatment from the news outlet, referring to it as the "Republican, conservative, homophobic channel" in the Poor FOX "News".. video. Crocker stated concerns about FOX News calling him a "she/he" and what he felt was them questioning his gender. He further stated concerns that they were disrespectful and focused on his appearance instead of commenting on the content of his video like the vast majority of other media reports had done. The Fox News commentators also compared his use of tented fabric as a backdrop to Osama bin Laden's videos.

Nude photos scandal

An online blog found, and posted, Crocker's self-produced soft-porn naked photos from his Suicide Boys LiveJournal profile. Although considered tame, Crocker said they were fakes then later admitted the photos were real and said they were embarrassing and attributed them to being young (he was seventeen at the time) and having a lot of free time being home-schooled. Crocker removed them from his profile and the blog removed them because he was legally a minor in the images.

Onch promotional deal and lawsuit

On October 5, 2007, celebrity gossip website TMZ.com reported that Crocker was being sued by Onch Movement Jewelry for 1 million dollars, for fraud and breach of contract and provided a copy of the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles. Jewelry designer Onch, a fan of Crocker, hired him as a celebrity spokesmodel and agreed to pay for airfare for Crocker to visit Los Angeles in exchange for more than two days worth of publicity work including appearances, photoshoots and interviews all while wearing Onch jewelry in addition to a two-hour appearance at World of Wonder’s Just Britney art show. It was speculated by others in the media that Crocker had no legal representative to advise him that the agreement seemed unbalanced. Crocker did make appearances including at gay club Rage and at the Just Britney art show where Crocker was interviewed by MTV showing artwork of him in homage to Britney Spears. Onch, who also has a YouTube channel, posted videos including Chrs Crocker wearing Onch Movement Pink Razor - Gay Army, which has since been removed.

Mainstream media exposure

Prior to the attention from his September 2007 Leave Britney Alone video, Crocker was seen as viral and was asked by MTV pioneering vlogger and news staffer Matt Sunbulli to provide video for MTV's website which also broadcasts on MTV itself. Crocker has indicated that he hopes to develop his acting career and has agreed to develop ideas for a TV show with Los Angeles producer Glenn Meehan and has met with representatives from MTV's gay-themed channel LOGO. According to Variety, Crocker has signed a development deal with 44 Blue Productions to create a "docusoap" reality television show, which will be called Chris Crocker's 15 Minutes More. Said Rasha Drachkovitch, the production company's co-founder: "It's going to pretty much be the Chris Crocker experience. We consider him a rebel character that people will find interesting. He's going to be a TV star."

In October 2007, Crocker opened Fox Reality channel's "Reality Remix Really Awards".

Future plans

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."

Selected videography

In addition to the Leave Britney Alone videos Crocker has produced and posted dozens of others with over fifty posted on both MySpace and YouTube although some are only posted on one site or the other. Many of Crocker's videos have become "viral video hits". Some consider them to be bold and seething "flares sent up by a young gay man marooned in a sea of rednecks" who is stuck in a small town that "can't tolerate homosexuality and punishes flamboyance." Crocker's videos include "sex-filled confessions" and "wild monologues" talking "about everything from AIDS to pubic hair."

This & that. (posted December 28, 2006 to Myspace and February 25, 2007 to YouTube.) Crocker's first video, where he starts very serenely then quickly escalates yelling "You wanna fight me?" in a menacing manner while revealing his scrawny chest belying the absurdity "that anyone would see this waify kid as a threat worthy of violence." This has been interpreted as a "brilliant way of mocking his virtual haters" but can also be seen as a fantasy fight that he could only win in a virtual world because of his obviously diminutive stature. The video was hosted on Salon.com and remains one of his most popular with over 4,5 million views and over 19,000 comments as of October 2007.

Bitch, please! (posted December 29, 2006 to MySpace and February 25, 2007 to YouTube.) One of Crocker's first videos to receive over a million viewers showed Crocker's self-assuredness as he offers increasingly angry versions of the phrase "Bitch, please" "complete with hair flips, bared teeth, and hand gestures." The video has had over 3 million views and nearly 10,000 comments as of September 2007.

Watch it. (posted January 24, 2007 to Myspace). Crocker dances erotically and provocatively to Nivea's Watch It. The video has over 1.2 million views as of September 2007.

Why I'm Gay... (posted August 10, 2007 to YouTube and MySpace). Crocker discusses why he has no need to "come out" of the closet as gay. The video was hosted on Salon.com and has had over 1.2 million views and nearly 12,000 comments as of September 2007.

Kids SHOULD Cuss. (posted August 23, 2007 to YouTube). Crocker discusses language and the use of curse words like "fuck" asking "why is shit more profane than poop?" He ties the discussion to free speech and encourages everyone to use swear words and teach them to children to ensure freedom of speech is assured. The video was hosted on Salon.com and has had over 427,000 views as of September 2007, it was removed from the site, presumably by Crocker.

Back up, Britney haters!. (posted September 1, 2007 to YouTube). Crocker's first major departure from describing his gay life in a Bible Belt town and instead on celebrity Britney Spears which he thought would be poorly received by his fans. From a floor covered in Spears-related magazines and memorabilia Crocker asserts he is "a real Britney fan." The video has nearly a million views as of September 2007.

Britney, this is for you. (posted September 3, 2007 to YouTube). Crocker pays homage to Spears' recently released single Gimme More. The video has been viewed over 2.1 million times and received over 28,000 comments as of October 2007.