Antoine Dodson
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Kevin Antoine Dodson (born June 27, 1986) is an American
Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...
, singer, and actor. In 2010, while a resident of the Lincoln Park
housing project Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
in
Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is the List of municipalities in Alabama, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population of the city is estimated to be 241,114 in 2024, making it the List of United States cities by population, 100th-most populous ...
, he gave an interview on local television news prompted by the report of an alleged
home invasion A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary (or in some jurisdictions, a separately defined crime) in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching i ...
and attempted rape of his sister. The interview became an
Internet sensation Internet phenomena are social and cultural phenomena specific to the Internet, such as Internet memes, which include popular catchphrases, images, viral videos, and jokes. When such fads and sensations occur online, they tend to grow rapidly ...
and resulted in the " Bed Intruder Song," an
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d song by
The Gregory Brothers The Gregory Brothers are an American musical quartet, specializing in comedy music and auto-tuning recorded speech through their YouTube channel Schmoyoho (). After the success of their songs "Chrissy Wake Up" and " It's Corn" in the summer of ...
that sold thousands of copies on
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and appeared on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 list.


Interview

Dodson was interviewed on July 28, 2010, by Elizabeth Gentle, a reporter for
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WAFF-48 News, after an alleged intruder attempted to rape his sister in her second-story bedroom, in Huntsville's Lincoln Park housing projects. The account was later contradicted by the alleged intruder, Rashaad Cooper, who at the time was never identified to the police by the Dodsons or charged for the incident. The video of the interview caught attention because of the passionate and flamboyant style of his delivery, speaking directly to the camera, in which he directly addressed his neighborhood's residents as well as the attempted rapist, and his use of
vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
. The reactions were mixed. Some local viewers phoned the television station to complain that interviews with people such as Dodson reflected poorly on the community, whereupon the station defended broadcasting the interview by stating that censoring such people is far worse. Jonathan Capehart, wrote in an editorial for ''
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'', that Dodson became an instant Internet sensation because "in this age of fake reality TV, he puts the real in reality", to which he later added that Dodson "is one of the strongest people we've seen in a while".


"Bed Intruder Song" and rise to fame

The video of Dodson's television interview gained sudden popularity and then inspired several musical
remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
es, including a video by musical group
The Gregory Brothers The Gregory Brothers are an American musical quartet, specializing in comedy music and auto-tuning recorded speech through their YouTube channel Schmoyoho (). After the success of their songs "Chrissy Wake Up" and " It's Corn" in the summer of ...
, known as the " Bed Intruder Song". The song was a huge success and eventually reached number 89 on ''
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s Hot 100 list. The popularity of the song inspired many covers and remixes, including a
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
version by a team formed by
Hayley Williams Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist and only constant member of the rock band Paramore, which she co-founded in 2004. Williams was born and raised in Meridian, Miss ...
of
Paramore Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band's lineup includes lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of ...
, Jordan Pundik of
New Found Glory New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Coral Springs, Florida, in 1997. The band currently consists of Jordan Pundik (lead vocals), Ian Grushka (bass), Chad Gilbert (guitar, backing vocals), ...
, and Ethan Luck of
Relient K Relient K () is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman during their third year in high school and time at Malone University in Canton. The band is named after guitarist ...
and musician Tony Lucca. Dodson was interviewed for the ''Today Show'' on NBC on August 31, 2010, about his newfound Web superstardom. On the program, Dodson's YouTube video was called "one of the most watched online videos ever", with the hosts noting it had already been viewed more than 16 million times as of that date. Dodson has appeared on radio shows in Australia, has fans in London, and is widely recognized in his hometown of Huntsville. Dodson had launched a website in which he asks for donations to assist his family in moving "out of the hood". The money, as well as money from sales of "Bed Intruder Song" on
iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
and merchandise such as
T-shirts A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...
, went to helping his family buy a new home and setting up a foundation for
Type 1 diabetes Type 1 diabetes (T1D), formerly known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the body's immune system destroys pancreatic cells (beta cells). In healthy persons, beta cells produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone require ...
, a disease that has afflicted both his sister and his mother. In August 2010, Dodson noted the irony of having "a hit on iTunes, but we're still in the projects"; one month later, ''
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'' reported that Dodson had made enough money from the song to move his family out of the projects to a better house. In September 2010, the Gregory Brothers reported that they had sold more than 250,000 copies of "Bed Intruder Song" on iTunes. In October 2010, Dodson performed "Bed Intruder Song" with Michael Gregory of
The Gregory Brothers The Gregory Brothers are an American musical quartet, specializing in comedy music and auto-tuning recorded speech through their YouTube channel Schmoyoho (). After the success of their songs "Chrissy Wake Up" and " It's Corn" in the summer of ...
at the 2010
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. Excluding major label music videos, Dodson's song was the most viewed YouTube video of 2010. It was chosen as the "Meme of the Year" in the 2010 Urlies – both as the People's Choice and the Editors' Choice – while the original video of Dodson's television interview was the "Video of the Year" – People's Choice. He was also featured in a segment on ''
Lopez Tonight ''Lopez Tonight'' is an American late-night television talk show that was hosted by the comedian George Lopez. The hour-long program premiered on November 9, 2009, on cable network TBS. Lopez was the first Mexican-American to host a late-ni ...
'' singing a "Chimney Intruder" song about
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, and on '' Tosh.0'' for a "Web Redemption". In the episode "Dancing with the Stools" on ''
The Cleveland Show ''The Cleveland Show'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Richard Appel, and Mike Henry (voice actor), Mike Henry for the Fox Broadcasting Company. A Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Family Guy'', and the second television ...
'', Dodson is referenced when Roberta, Cleveland's stepdaughter, enters the kitchen wearing Antoine's famous bandana and says "Rallo, you are so dumb, you are really dumb, for real". Also, in episode "B.M.O.C.", Roberta states "Hide your kids, hide your wife didn't go to college" when listing famous people that didn't go to college. In episode 2 of '' Jay Park TV'',
Korean-American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...
singer
Jay Park Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...
mimics Dodson while wearing a makeshift bandana.


Business ventures

Dodson has capitalized on the success of "Bed Intruder Song". His first venture was a line of T-shirts and merchandise featuring the original album art from the
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release sold through zazzle.com. After a licensing dispute between the artist, the photographer, and his manager, he launched a storefront through districtlines.com with an unrelated line of merchandise. Since then he has authorized entrepreneur Fam Mirza for the creation and sale of a "Bed Intruder Costume" for
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
2010 and endorsed a "Sex Offender Tracker"
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application for the
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and Android platforms. In late December 2010, Dodson was featured in a commercial advertising the new '' Tosh.0'' season. On January 21, 2011, MSN announced that Dodson was filming a pilot episode for a reality show, featuring Dodson and his family as they move from Huntsville to Los Angeles, California. In November 2014, Dodson participated in a celebrity boxing match, hosted by
Kato Kaelin Brian Gerard "Kato" Kaelin (born March 9, 1959) is an American actor and radio and television personality. A friend of Nicole Brown Simpson, Kaelin is best known for serving as a witness in the O. J. Simpson murder trial in 1995, receiving con ...
, against "bedroom intruder" Cooper. Dodson won in the first round. On September 24, 2022, Dodson plans to launch his own beer called "Run N' Tell That" in partnership with Huntsville brewery Straight to Ale.


Personal life

Dodson grew up in Chicago, and moved to Huntsville in 2004, where he attended Virginia College, working on an associate degree in
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. He also worked as a hairstylist. Antoine Dodson is the eldest of nine children. In an online Q&A video with fans, he answered questions regarding his sexuality: "Am I bisexual? No. Gay? Yes." In an interview with CBS, Dodson told
Shira Lazar Shira Lazar (born May 6, 1983) is a Canadian television personality, actress, writer, and video blogger. Lazar's writing has been featured on Hollywood.com, CBSNEWS.com, MSN.com, and others, and she has appeared as a host or as a guest at The ...
that he had been a rape victim in the past. In May 2013, Dodson announced through Facebook that he has become a
Black Hebrew Israelite Black Hebrew Israelites (also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites) are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites, descendant ...
, is "no longer into homosexuality" and that he wants "a wife and family". Dodson and his wife announced her pregnancy in September 2013. In May 2014, they had a son. Dodson drew criticism shortly after when discussing the possibility of his son being gay. Although professing unconditional support, he included the phrase "if he couldn't be fixed". In September 2015, in a video posted to his YouTube channel, Antoine apologized to the LGBT community for his statements. In an interview in April 2018 with
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, Dodson identified himself as a bisexual man, saying, "I don't know what the future will hold for me." Dodson also said he enjoyed working at Huntsville City Schools, where his nephews and nieces were enrolled, especially after having earned a license to become a substitute teacher.


Filmography


Film


Discography


Singles


References


External links

*
Antoine Dodson
at Cameo {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodson, Antoine 1984 births Male actors from Huntsville, Alabama African-American musicians American bisexual musicians American bisexual male actors American LGBTQ singers Bisexual male musicians Bisexual singers Black Hebrew Israelite people Culture of Huntsville, Alabama Internet memes African-American LGBTQ people LGBTQ people from Illinois Living people Musicians from Huntsville, Alabama Musicians from Chicago 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people pt:Anexo:Lista de fenômenos da Internet#Antoine Dodson