Chris Crocker

Chris Crocker (born Christopher Darren Cunningham; December 7, 1987) is an American Internet celebrity, songwriter, blogger, and recording artist residing in Bristol, Tennessee. Crocker gained international fame in September 2007 from his viral video "Leave Britney Alone", in which he tearfully defended pop singer Britney Spears's comeback performance at the MTV Video Music Awards; his video had over four million views in two days. The video received international media attention, hundreds of parodies and criticism for Crocker.

He is a self-described "edutainer" who produces and acts in multiple videos. In almost all of Crocker's work he presents himself as an openly gay and effeminate Southern adolescent in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt where his sexual orientation and outspokenness are a "subtext... rarely addressed directly and never completely accepted". The Tennessee-based Crocker, a stage name, keeps his identity and exact location private because according to him, and as seen in the public comments to his work; there were safety concerns and death threats in response to his YouTube and MySpace video blogs and profile. According to his MySpace profile, Crocker lived in Los Angeles as of January 2008. As of May 2010, Crocker has returned home to Tennessee and solely travels to Los Angeles for business ventures.

His work consists mainly of short-form self-directed monologues shot in his grandparents' home. As of October 2010, Crocker's videos have received a combined 50 million plays on MySpace, and his vlog channel on YouTube is the 100th most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views. Crocker's detractors and critics have accused him of narcissism, melodramatics, histrionics, and using Spears' personal shortcomings to bolster his own fame. Others have accused Crocker of acting in the "Leave Britney Alone" video, although he insisted it was genuine on a September 2007 appearance on Maury Povich's Maury show.

Read more about Chris Crocker:  Early Life, Career, Selected Videography, Discography, Filmography

Famous quotes containing the words chris and/or crocker:

    When I get all these accolades for being true to myself, I say, “Who else can I be? I can’t be Chris Evert.”
    Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)

    Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations, as all other causes combined.
    —John Abbott. The Mother at Home; or the Principles of Maternal Duty, John Abbott, Crocker and Brewster (1833)