Chris Crocker turned to the internet to escape the torment of being chased by gangs of boys at the mall.
The internet helped him connect with the greater world around him when he couldn’t create a gay-straight alliance in his school and he left to be home schooled. To grow up a gay, eccentric and flamboyant teen has never been easy especially in a small conservative town in Tennessee.
If it weren’t for the internet where would Chris Crocker be?
Today Chris is one of the most watched and imitated video bloggers online. His iconic video of himself weeping and imploring the public to “Leave Britney Alone” made him a household name.
Chris’ videos represent the dramatic change we’re seeing in how we create and consume media. Chris’ videos are just as popular as the YouTube Presidential debates or the evening news. For millions of people everywhere, his opinion matters.
Despite this, old media companies are threatened by Chris popularity because of his bold desire to express himself at any cost. They can’t control him and he doesn’t need them.
It’s easy to question the authenticity of Chris’ videos because he’s just that good. He’s eerily in touch with his dark emotions and quickly cuts through the hypocrisy of the “haters” with his wit and words.
“Leave Britney Alone” proves to be one of the most emotionally over the top videos I’ve ever seen online. I believe Chris cried not so much for Britney Spears but rather to express the pain and suffering he endured having gone through the hell of homophobia as a teenager. In many ways, Chris Crocker represents the tortured gay youth who fought back and lived.
Chris Crocker really is a huge fan of Britney Spears, even though she has conservative leanings and a complete lack of interest in gay rights of any kind. Remember, she was FOR the War in Iraq and said in many interviews that we should “stand by our President” despite his reckless policies.
Chris sees something bigger inside of Britney. He believes her to be a liberal person trapped by the conservative world around her.
People can’t leave Britney alone or any other tragic celebrity for that matter because they help us cope with our everyday problems. When we see someone richer, more attractive and more powerful than us struggling to hold on, it makes it easy to come to peace with our place in the world.
On today’s show Chris Crocker joins us to talk in-depth about his popular video blog, his passion for following people’s horoscope and how he may team up with Puerto Rican TV astrologer Walter Mercado to reach a hip, young new audience. We also talk with Chris about how he personally deals with the vicious hate online and offline, what he thinks of all those parody videos of his work and where in Los Angeles you should hang out if you want to hook up with Chris.
And we put to rest the rumors surrounding Chris’ HIV/AIDS conspiracy as a government biological weapon gone wrong and being vilified for simply being himself and being good at it!
[Originally posted on 05.08.08]
Your broken beer bottle in the bar fight against homophobia- Feast of Fools.
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13 Comments
Comments
I think this was a pretty good interview. I remember when it was posted the first time I thought he was ok. Listening to it a second time I can deffinetly tell how immature he is. Also I get the distinct impression that he’s a really bitchy queen which really annoys the crap out of me.
Hi guys,
Thanks for having Chris on the show. Previously, I’d only seen one video before the whole leave Britney alone deal. I’m glad I really had the chance to see the depth of personality Chris has, as well as his reminder to the rest of us that young gay people these days don’t necessarily have it a lot easier (especially not in Tennessee).
I also applaud his grandmother for standing behind him.
Thanks for re-posting this show. I think Chris was pretty funny, a little dense but entertaining. I remember when Jimmy Kimmel interviewed him on his show via phone as well and that interaction was so hilarious and Jimmy treated/exploited him very well.
Chris Crocker could be totally right about aids being created. Fausto’s argument was that they (Bush and Cheney?) wouldnt want to loose their customers (at Wal mart?) so they have no incentive to kill gays.
But the thing is….
Who do you see dying of aids now? A gay man who contracts HIV has 15-20 years more to live IF he continues to purchase expensive drugs for pharmeceuticals ( Donald Rumsfeild made millions from the AVian flue scare becasue he had financial intrest in the company that made tamiflu WHILE IN OFFICE!!!)
So, if anything having HIV amoung gays is “great for america” casue it keeps them alive just long enought during their productive years (and die quicker in old age) and it gets rid of the ones who arnt able to work (and thus cant afford the drugs) not to mention an impoverished black population
maybe Chis is smarter than the last commenter thinks ( or smarter than the commenter)