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Cory Williams (born August 5, 1981), also known as Mr. Safety, is an American YouTube personality who, until early 2013, lived in
Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak trees ...
. He then resided in
Eagle River, Alaska Eagle River is a community within the Municipality of Anchorage situated on the Eagle River, for which it is named, between Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Chugach State Park in the Chugach Mountains. Its ZIP code is 99577. Settled by homest ...
, until July 2017. Williams currently resides in Oklahoma. "The Mean Kitty Song" was his most popular video, with over 90 million views, until December 2018 when his video, "How To Get A Kitty Belly", surpassed it, reaching over 168 million views.


Personal life

Williams was diagnosed with
ADD Addition (usually signified by the plus symbol ) is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and division. The addition of two whole numbers results in the total amount or '' sum'' of t ...
as a child. He has said on one of his videos that he does not have hyperactivity, and currently only has
ADD Addition (usually signified by the plus symbol ) is one of the four basic operations of arithmetic, the other three being subtraction, multiplication and division. The addition of two whole numbers results in the total amount or '' sum'' of t ...
. Williams became
engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be '' ...
to Stephanie Roby (known as "SMPlady" on YouTube) in April 2007, and they were wed in September 2009, with a reception that was live-streamed. However, their relationship ended in January 2011, after over six years of being together and over a year of marriage. By November 2011, Cory was dating Kathleen Victoria Elliot (known as "Katers17" and "Katersoneseven" on YouTube), his longtime roommate, friend, and fellow video blogger. They publicly revealed their relationship in December 2011 on
New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the December 31, last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly ...
, via a YouTube vlog on Elliot's Katersoneseven channel. In May 2013, it was announced that the two were
engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be '' ...
via a relationship status on Williams's
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
profile and a video on Elliot's Katersoneseven channel. However, in February 2014, Williams announced that he and Elliot had ended their relationship. In July 2014, Williams traveled from Los Angeles to Alaska, filming the trip, planning to live permanently in the state. In August 2014, Williams announced that he was buying a house with a woman named Kristen Swift. She was introduced with no specific details as to her identity as part of a "date" vlog on June 7, 2014. The couple was engaged on December 21, 2014, and were married on May 23, 2015. It was announced on October 26, 2015, that they were expecting a baby. On his public Facebook page, Cory announced that his wife Kristen had given birth to their daughter Chell Marie Williams on June 23, 2016, at 7:15pm local time. It was revealed on September 27, 2017, that Cory and Kristen were expecting their second child. On December 1, 2017, they announced the baby's sex was male, and on March 26, 2018, they announced the baby's name was Atlas, after a Greek god meaning strength. Atlas Cade Williams was born on June 3, 2018. Both children's name referencing Williams' favourite game series, Portal.


Early life and work

Williams had previously been filming comedy sketches in his younger years. In 2006, Williams uploaded two videos to his YouTube channel, SMP Films of his first comedy sketches from 1999. These videos were called, "Turlock Cops" and "STOPMAN." Williams started streaming online video in March 2005 on
Newgrounds Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company founded by Tom Fulp in 1995. It hosts user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork. Fulp produces in-house content at the headquarters and offices in Glenside, Pennsylvania. I ...
. He developed a following by posting original music tracks to his MySpace profile, leading MySpace to sponsor him on a cross-country tour. In September 2005, Golden Palace Casino sponsored Williams, making him the first video blogger to receive corporate sponsorship.Modesto Bee article
Redorbit.com (2006-11-12). Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
Williams is the creator of SMP Films, which was named after his friends in his hometown of
Hilmar, California Hilmar is an unincorporated community in Merced County, California, United States. It is located west-southwest of Delhi, spanning and at an elevation of above sea level. For census purposes, Hilmar is aggregated with a nearby community into ...
. The "SMP" stands for "Simple Minded People."


YouTube

Williams' video output includes music,
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...
and short films. , Williams' YouTube channel, smpfilms, has acquired over 625,000 subscribers and over 193 million video views. He was also one of the first 30 users to be chosen for YouTube's revenue-sharing "partner" program. Williams also owns a secondary channel, named DudeLikeHELLA (later renamed LiveEachDay on October 23, 2016), on which he posts
vlogs A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
and video diaries showing his daily life and opinions. , this channel has over 431,000 subscribers and over 107 million video views. Mr. Safety, another channel owned by Williams, was created in March 2014 and includes music videos made by himself. , it has obtained over 55,000 subscribers and over 17 million video views. "The Mean Kitty Song" or "Hey Little Sparta," based on his cat with the same name, is Williams' most popular video. , it has attracted over 90 million views. In one year, it became the top 21 of YouTube's list of all-time favorite videos, number 1 all-time most discussed Pets & Animals video, and number 4 all-time most-viewed Pets & Animals video, and is the No. 1 all-time favorite video in the Pets & Animals section. The video was also aired by a number of television shows, including CBS'
The Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday fro ...
. Williams regularly appeared on Kate Elliott's daily vlogs until she closed her channel. His cats, Loki and Sparta (often referred to as Poki and Moo, respectively) also made appearances. On December 10, 2008, Williams was mentioned on the front page of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as being one of YouTube's top earners. "Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos." On September 17, 2014, Williams posted a vlog titled, "Chuck E. Cheese STOLE MY VIDEO!" in which he discovers and talks about
Chuck E. Cheese's Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan B ...
stealing one of his Mean Kitty videos, even though it lacked a
Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyric ...
. Chuck E. Cheese posted a response on the same day, ensuring that his stolen video is no longer playing in their stores and that they have reached out to him about it. He got a response a day later, however on September 25, he later said that Chuck E. Cheese's was lying when they said they were working things out with him and detailed his disappointment with them. On October 13, 2014, Williams uploaded a video entitled, "Coolest Sound Ever" to his DudeLikeHELLA channel in which he skips a rock against a frozen lake and it makes an interesting sound due to flexural waves. It went viral, obtaining over 6.4 million views in five days, making it his most popular video on that channel, and led to news interviews and articles about the video. On October 22, 2016, Williams changed his YouTube channel name from DudeLikeHELLA to LiveEachDay, stating that the latter name is a reminder to live in the moment and enjoy every day. He gives tribute to the five years he used the channel's original name and produces a video with the new name. On March 31, 2018, a video on "TheMeanKitty" channel reported that Loki had died at the age of 10. The video did not mention the cause of death. On June 14, 2020, Williams posted a video on his YouTube channel “TheMeanKitty” that Sparta could not move from his waist down and can be seen panting. Less than an hour later, Cory took Sparta to the vet and found out he had an underlying heart disease that they did not know about. The heart disease had led to a saddle thrombus, which is a blood clot that blocks the back legs, resulting in severe pain and paralysis. Sparta died in Cory's arms at 9:52 am.


Television and film

In November 2006, Williams became the host of the first national TV show to spawn from video bloggers, called
The FIZZ The Fizz are a British pop music group formed in 2004 as a spin-off from the original group, Bucks Fizz. The core of the group consists of Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, who are all former members of Bucks Fizz and performed as OBF ...
on
DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California, El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary ...
channel 101 in the United States. The show features other popular video bloggers such as TheWineKone, boh3m3, TheHill88. Williams was also named as one of th
"Who's Who on YouTube"
by G4TV's
Attack of the Show ''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program and that aired on G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally aired from 2005 until 2013 ...
on July 31, 2008, and also made
guest appearance
on Tom Green's House Tonight on
The Comedy Network CTV Comedy Channel (often shortened to CTV Comedy and formerly known as The Comedy Network) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media which focuses primarily on comedy programming. The channel first launched on Octobe ...
in Canada. Williams has appeared on ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ' ...
'' and MTV's '' Scarred''.Appelbaum, Eliav. (2007-09-13
Appelbaum, Eliav "'Mean Kitty Song' creator finds fame on Youtube.com " The Acorn
. Toacorn.com. Retrieved on 2012-04-09.
In early October 2007, Williams starred in his first feature film role as the character "Hunter" in the movie ''Faded Memories'', which opened in theaters on November 14, 2008. The first trailer to the movie was released on YouTube, August 3, 2008. Williams also has a cameo in the music video "
Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss "Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss" is the eleventh track and the second single from American rock band Bloodhound Gang's fourth studio album, '' Hefty Fine'' (2005). The title is an onomatopoeic representation of a typical four-on-the-floor dance beat ...
" by
Bloodhound Gang The Bloodhound Gang was an American rap rock band from Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1988 by rappers Jimmy Pop and Daddy Long Legs (now in Wolfpac) as a hip-hop group, before branching out into other genres as their career prog ...
as well as " White People For Peace" by
Against Me! Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...
. On September 18, 2008, Williams was featured on The Tyra Show for his music video "The Mean Kitty Song." In the episode titled, "YouTube Made Me Famous,"
Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American television personality, model, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15, and was the first Africa ...
announced that Williams makes a monthly income of $20,000 (US). Williams' response to Tyra's comment about his income was, "The money I make each month isn't from YouTube alone but through sponsorship, consulting, and acting gigs." On September 17, 2009, Williams was a guest on
The Bonnie Hunt Show ''The Bonnie Hunt Show'' is an American syndicated talk show hosted by Bonnie Hunt. It premiered on September 8, 2008. The show's second and final season premiered on September 8, 2009. It was announced on December 7, 2009 that ''The Bonnie Hu ...
. This was the first time his cats Sparta and Loki had been taped for television in front of a live studio audience. The topic focused on Cory's ability to comfort animals in extreme situations which led him to perform "comfort tricks" with Sparta. On October 17, 2014, Williams appeared on Alaskan local station
KTVA KTVA (channel 11) is a television station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States, affiliated with the digital multicast network Rewind TV. The station is owned by Denali Media Holdings, a subsidiary of local cable provider GCI. KTVA's transmitte ...
to talk about his experiences with his move to and life in
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...
, and about his viral video "Coolest Sound Ever." It was later announced that Williams would have a weekly slot on their Daybreak morning show, where he would talk about his latest stories and goings-on in the state. On October 29, 2014, it was revealed that a variety of production companies had approached Williams, asking to produce a televised
reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
based on his life in Alaska and his DudeLikeHELLA video blogging channel. However, he turned all the offers down, stating "Why fix what isn’t broken? We’re already loving this. This is all we’re doing. It’s just me, the
camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...
and it’s us". Williams has said though that if an opportunity comes up later on, in which he could explore more of the world, he would be open to the idea of starring in a reality TV show. On January 27, 2017, Williams announced that he would be a participant on the
Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...
reality series,
Naked and Afraid ''Naked and Afraid'' is an American reality series that airs on the Discovery Channel. Each episode chronicles the lives of two survivalists who meet for the first time naked and are given the task of surviving a stay in the wilderness for 21 d ...
. He appeared on the August 20th episode "Belize Breakdown", alongside professional surfer Anastasia Ashley, where he lasted 11 days out of a 14-day goal. An episode of the television show ''Expecting'' aired on January 11, 2018, on Up, featured Williams and Kristen Swift, as they chronicled their pregnancy and birth of their child, Chell.


Other work

Outside of YouTube, Williams worked for a viral video project called, "I Got Shotgun" (which was created by General Motors) in which he interviewed celebrities on the red carpet about their personal opinions on the future of new media. In the late Spring and Summer of 2012, Cory Williams and Kathleen Elliott (with friend and video man Josh Kanan) went on tour with indie rock musician Shaun Holton (also known as Projected Twin). The tour was a roughly 13,000-mile trip around the continental United States of America that acted as a series of meetups and mini-concerts for fans. Following the conclusion of the tour, the group went to Melbourne, Australia, to do a meet up with another friend and fellow YouTuber . Williams has made all of his newer videos available to view and download in
720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...
HD on
Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...
, another video-sharing website that obtained high-definition capabilities before YouTube added "high quality" and " HD" features.


"As One"

Williams is the founder and West Coast American Event Coordinator of the international gathering of YouTube users dubbe
"As One."
The first "As One" gathering was held in January 2007 in
Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a metonymy, shorthand reference for the Cinema of the United States, U.S. film industry and the people associated with i ...
, and Williams' associated video went on to receive over 1.3 million views. The second gathering, held at
Pier 39 Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of Cal ...
in
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,Felicia Williams . thedailyreel.com (2007-02-20) managed to attract many of YouTube's highest viewed users, YouTube employees, and attention in the mainstream press. Notable YouTubers who attended include Caitlin Hill, Ben Going,
Smosh Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy-improv collective founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. They began to post vide ...
, and Paul Robinett, Yousef Abu-Taleb and Jackson Davis (the actors who play DanielBeast and jonastko in the YouTube series
lonelygirl15 ''Lonelygirl15'' is an American science fiction thriller web series created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried. It was independently released on YouTube from June 16, 2006 to August 1, 2008, and was also briefl ...
). Cory Williams' channel on YouTube Another "As One" gathering was held on July 7, 2007, in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
; one other gathering also took place on December 1, 2007, in
Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.The official "As One" Gathering website
Youtubegathering.com (2012-01-27). Retrieved on 2012-04-09.


See also

*
The FIZZ The Fizz are a British pop music group formed in 2004 as a spin-off from the original group, Bucks Fizz. The core of the group consists of Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, who are all former members of Bucks Fizz and performed as OBF ...
* YouTube celebrities


References


External links


SMP Films YouTube
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Cory Living people Male actors from California Video bloggers 1981 births American Internet celebrities People from Merced, California YouTube channels launched in 2005 Male bloggers