viral video
Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
Bobby Ciraldo
Bobby Ciraldo (born 12 October 1974 in Skokie, Illinois, Skokie, Illinois) is a filmmaker and web-based artist whose works include ''Hamlet A.D.D.'', ''William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet'',Samwell.Milwaukee Decider by DJ Hostettler (February 5, 2009), "Screening Room: Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo". Retrieved 02-09-2009. It is known for its numerous blatant and
camp
Camp may refer to:
Areas of confinement, imprisonment, or for execution
* Concentration camp, an internment camp for political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or minority ethnic groups
* Extermination ...
references to
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
and
anal sex
Anal sex or anal intercourse principally means the insertion and pelvic thrusting, thrusting of the Erection, erect human penis, penis into a person's Human anus, anus, or anus and rectum, for sexual pleasure.Sepages 270–271for anal sex inform ...
. The lyrics of the song, a production of Mike Stasny, mostly revolve around the title. The video was made in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
, and uploaded on
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...
2007 to
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. As of November 2023, the video has over 75 million views.
Themes and imagery
On 5 March 2007, with regard to the Christian imagery in the video, Samwell said, in an interview with
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock").
The sta ...
, that the opening image is "not a cross, but a flaming symbol that ejust happened to use". According to Stasny, however:
" amwellwanted it because he's a Christian but he doesn't do
Christian morality
Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a Virtue ethics, virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a Deontological ethics, deontological ethic which emphasizes duty according ...
. For him, having a burning cross is a way to pay respect to his beliefs."
The video also parodies the flower petal scene from the movie '' American Beauty'' (1999).
On April 8, 2007, Brownmark Films released an interview with Samwell, in which he discussed the public reception of the song at length.
Performances and appearances
In April 2008, Samwell appeared on the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
television show ''
Lily Allen and Friends
''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...
'' for an interview and performed a live version of "What What (In the Butt)" with choreographed dancers. The video was also featured in episode #53 of ADD-TV in Manhattan. "What What (In the Butt)" was an official selection at the Milwaukee International Film Festival and the
Mix Brasil Mix Brasil is the biggest Brazilian LGBT site on web.
Mix Brasil was formed in 1993 and in the following year, by the same organizers and bearing the same name, one of the most important Brazilian GLBTT Internet portals of pop Queer information w ...
Film Festival.
In June 2010 Samwell appeared on an episode of Comedy Central's ''
Tosh.0
''Tosh.0'' ( ) is an American comedy television series that aired on Comedy Central from June 4, 2009, to November 24, 2020. The series was hosted and produced by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provided satirical commentary on online viral video clips ...
'', television show about viral videos. The segment told the story of how the "What What" video was created, followed by an acoustic duet version of the song by Samwell and
Josh Homme
Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is best known as the founder and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he for ...
, lead singer for
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated as QOTSA or QotSA) is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1996. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme shortly before he returned to his native Palm Desert, California. ...
and former guitar player for
Kyuss
Kyuss ( ) was an American stoner rock band formed in Palm Desert, California, in 1987, and considered one of the pioneers of the genre. After disbanding in 1995, a number of band members have gone on to form or play in several notable bands in ...
.
In 2009, the creators of the video, and Samwell himself, claimed that a feature film called ''What What (In the Butt): The Movie'' was in the works.
On November 12, 2010, Brownmark Films filed a
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...
lawsuit against
MTV Networks
Paramount Media Networks is the division of Paramount Global that oversees the operations of its television channels and online brands. The division was originally founded as MTV Networks in 1984, named after MTV. It would be known under this ...
, South Park Studios, and
Viacom
Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to:
* Viacom (1952–2005), a former American media conglomerate
* Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom
* Viacom18, a joint venture between Pa ...
for their use of "What What in the Butt" in the 2008 ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
'' episode "Canada On Strike". In July 2011, a federal judge decided that South Park's use of the video fell under the
fair use
Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to bal ...
exception to copyright law, and thus the defendants did not owe damages. The decision was unusual in a copyright lawsuit because it was made on a
motion to dismiss
In United States law, a motion is a procedural device to bring a limited, contested issue before a court for decision. It is a request to the judge (or judges) to make a decision about the case. Motions may be made at any point in administrativ ...
, before
summary judgment
In law, a summary judgment, also referred to as judgment as a matter of law or summary disposition, is a Judgment (law), judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party summarily, i.e., without a full Trial (law), trial. Summa ...
. The appeal was dismissed by the
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (in case citations, 7th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the courts in the following districts:
* Central District of Illinois
* Northern District of Ill ...
on June 7, 2012.Brownmark Films, LLC v. Comedy Partners, et al., No. 11-2620 (7th Cir. 2012) /ref> Additionally, the district court awarded attorneys' fees to the defendants because the lawsuit was "objectively unreasonable".
In January 2013, a behind-the-scenes video was released which showed footage from the original 2006
green screen
Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...
shoot.
See also
*
LGBT hip hop
LGBTQ representation in hip-hop music has existed since the birth of the genre even while enduring blatant discrimination. Due to its adjacency to disco, the earliest days of hip-hop had a close relation to LGBTQ subcultures, and multiple LGBT ...
*"
In the Bush
IN, In or in may refer to:
Dans
* India (country code IN)
* Indiana, United States (postal code IN)
* Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN)
* In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Businesses and organizations
* Independen ...