Leave Chris Crocker alone! No, that’s the last thing this self-proclaimed “edutainer” wants us to do. Made famous for his defense of Britney Spears’ comeback performance at the 2007 VMAs, Crocker was known to millions before as the southern belle (beau?) who used his gender-bending, attention-getting lifestyle to preach tolerance from the basement of his grandparents’ Tennessee home. Leave Britney Alone!, an impassioned attack against gossip columns and other public criticism of Spears’ private life and career pushed Crocker to hysteria of Streetcar-Named-Desire proportions. Crocker’s breakdown brought in over 2 million views in its first 24 hours and has more than 19 million to date on YouTube. The web site described it as its fastest-growing video in history. Orphans only wish their tears were this addictive.
Although the video has been accused of being an insincere and transparent attempt at fame (indeed, the “Internet celebrity” parlayed the attention into interviews on CNN, Fox News, The Today Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! as well as a deal with 44 Blue Productions for his own TV show), the response on the web has done more justice to the phrase “gimme more” than Spears’ lackluster lip-sync ever could. The breadth of parodies and mashups showed that not only did the world watch Crocker, but it cared enough to imitate him…over and over again. Remember, it is the sincerest form of flattery. Really, you’re nobody until you’ve been mauled by a panda on South Park.
Despite the acclaim the video earned, especially for being just a man under a sheet throwing a tantrum in his grandma’s mascara, Crocker lost for “Best Commentary” in YouTube’s 2007 awards. Don’t worry, Chris, I am sure 2008 will bring another celebrity train wreck for you to champion.
Now living in L.A. — he credits wanting to protecting his grandparents from from unwanted attention — Crocker took a break from regular vlogging to develop his reality TV show (for the moment called 15 More Minutes). One only hopes that when those extra 15 are up, Crocker will be lucky enough to have a fan like himself to ask the world, for once, to look away.
