http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/sex-assault-fury-internet-fueled-fortun
e/story?id=11413687
Antoine Dodson Capitalizes on Accidental Fame With Facebook, Twitter,
Web Page, Merchandise
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By KI MAE HEUSSNER
Aug. 17, 2010
For many people who dabble with fame, it's their face that determines
their fortune. But Antoine Dodson's ticket to success isn't his face,
it's his fury.
The "Bed Intruder" song has made Ala. native Antoine Dodson a viral
celebrity.
Three weeks ago, the 24-year-old man was struggling to complete an
associate's degree at a college in Huntsville, Ala., while living with
his mother, three sisters and a niece.
Now, he's an Internet superstar with Facebook fans by thousands, YouTube
views in the millions and enough money of his own to move his family
into a new house.
All because of a televised rant that attracted a rabid following.
On the local news in late July, Dodson unleashed an animated diatribe
the likes of which even the Internet had never seen, denouncing an
intruder who allegedly attempted to rape his 22-year-old sister, Kelly,
in her bed one night.
"Obviously, we have a rapist in Lincoln Park," the 24-year-old called
out to the camera. "He's climbing in your windows, he's snatching your
people up, trying to rape them; so y'all need to hide your kids, hide
your wife and hide your husband, because they're raping everybody out
here."
He ended the video with a sharp warning to the still-at-large
perpetrator: "We're looking for you. We gonna find you. I'm letting you
know that. So you can run and tell that, homeboy!"
Gregory Brothers Turns Dodson Video Into 'Bed Intruder Song'
The next day, Dodson said, the online video surpassed one million views,
making him a local celebrity. A few days later, his star rose even
higher when the Gregory brothers, the masterminds behind the popular
Auto-Tune the News videos, turned his blustering into the iTunes hit,
"Bed Intruder Song."
Last week, the song broke through to No. 16 on iTunes' pop charts and
the Gregory brothers estimate that, in total, the song has attracted
about 15 million views.
"I love it," said Dodson, who now sits atop a Facebook page, a Twitter
account, a YouTube channel, a personal website and even "official
merchandise." "We laugh and joke about the videos. ... We watch it every
day."
He declined to say exactly how much money he's made from the video and
his new celebrity. But between a PayPal account on his website, which
lets people donate to help his family, his merchandise and YouTube ad
sales (the Gregory brothers split the earnings 50-50), he said he's made
"a nice amount of money."
"It was enough to move my family from the projects," said Dodson, who is
known by his first name "Kevin" at home.
But though he owes his fame to comedy, he said he never forgets that the
situation underneath it all is far from humorous.
The police have been helpful, he said, but they still haven't found the
man he saw attacking his sister.
"I want people to realize that this is funny. It is funny -- I'm not
going to lie, 'cause we're laughing too. But this is a serious matter,"
he said. "I really thought that when I went into Kelly's room, he was
choking her life out of her. I was terrified. ... It was so crazy. But
God allowed me to save her and that's what I did."
Now that three weeks have passed since the alleged assault, Kelly said
she enjoys the video and her brother's success. But when she first saw
it, she said laughing about it was the last thing she wanted to do.
"When I first seen it, I was very upset about it because they were
taking it as a joke and I was feeling like they were not looking at the
part where I was the victim," she said. "If Antoine wouldn't came in, I
probably would be dead."
As time has passed, she said, she's taken a different view.
"They wasn't laughing at the situation, but Kevin's reaction or how he
was acting," she said. "He is funny."
Richard Figueroa, a Huntsville, Ala.-based talent scout, thought Dodson
was funny, too. So funny, in fact, that immediately after seeing the
viral video making the rounds online, he drove right over to the
Dodsons' home.
"I said, 'This guy is going to be a sensation,'" Figueroa said. "He's a
hero. What an amazing person. I've never seen nothing like this before.
... I was like, 'Wow, he's going to need a good manager, representation,
with all of this fame."
Along with scout and photographer Beth Boldt, Figueroa now manages
Dodson's career and image, while a lawyer makes sure that all the deals
that come Dodson's way are legitimate.
"He says he wants to write songs," Figueroa said. "Also, he loves
fashion, he loves clothes, he likes designers."
Given the connections he and Boldt have developed in the fashion world,
he said, "We're going to try to get him some exposure in that side of
the industry first."
With Dodson's long, lean frame and photogenic face, Boldt said she
thinks he has great modeling potential, but television and film could be
in the future too.
Andrew Gregory, part of the team responsible for sending Dodson's
already soaring stock into the stratosphere, said that what attracted
them to Dodson was that he's an "unintentional singer," whose voice
conveys the right amount of volume, passion and originality.
"They're saying something that's really articulate in their own way," he
said about people, like Dodson, who make for good auto-tuning
candidates. "People are frustrated with pop music because it's all the
same over and over again, in terms of being love songs or a song about
someone going away. These are songs that aren't about anything you've
ever heard a song about."
Since early 2009, the Gregory brothers (which include Andrew's brothers
Michael and Evan, and Evan's wife Sarah) have entertained the Internet
by marrying hip-hop music with online news reports. Just last week, they
finalized a deal with Comedy Central to develop a pilot about their
Internet-fueled fun.
Dodson was the latest "singer" they encountered, but he said they've hit
"viral gold" with others too. Just a few weeks ago, they sent the
Internet into a tizzy with a song ("Double Rainbow Song") about a man
who sounded practically orgasmic after seeing two rainbows
simultaneously arch across the sky.
Viral sensations of decades past had no way to capitalize on their
accidental popularity, Gregory said, but thanks to the burst of new
media platforms, times have changed.
"Now because of Facebook, because of Twitter and because of YouTube,
Antoine can sort of say, 'Holy crap, I just maybe got famous. If I can
work this the right way, this can be my job, this can be my
livelihood,'" Gregory said. "He can do things like sell merchandise and
become a YouTube partner to make money off it, which we think is
fantastic."
Greg Williams
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