You never really know what’s going to go viral. People put pictures of themselves on Facebook or videos on YouTube and for some weird reason it takes off. Who knew that an uncoordinated person in a shark costume at the Superbowl would inspire a tattoo and multiple videos?
But what happens to the people after their fame fades?
Remember the Vancouver hockey riots and the picture that went viral of the young people kissing with the riot police officer in the foreground? The couple is Alexandra Thomas and Australian Scott Jones. Thomas had been knocked over by riot police and Jones kissed her to “comfort her.” In the aftermath of the buzz from the picture, they hired an agent to manage their fame, but Jones, who is an aspiring standup comedian, didn’t feel he was experienced enough to parlay the fame into a career, and Thomas didn’t like the attention. After the riots, the two moved to Australia, where Jones is from. He manages a pub and she works for the state water company that supplies drinking water and sewage services to Melbourne. They received a blown up version of the picture from the photographer, which they hung above their bed.
“Alex from Target” went viral last November after a teenage girl found a picture of him on Tumblr and tweeted it out to her followers. He gained a gaggle of lovestruck fans who harassed him at work and when he went out for meals. He received death threats and people spewed hate about him online. He and his family had personal information leaked, including social security numbers and banking information. Now, he’s trying to parlay his no-doubt fleeting fame into something more lasting. He sells merchandise on his website and has an appearance in a music video and has a part in a crowdfunded film. He is also planning on releasing music. Whether this career trajectory will last remains to be seen.
Rebecca Black was just 13 years old when her music video Friday took off. Her parents paid $4,000 to ARK Music Factory to write a song for her and put her in a music video. The resulting song had terrible lyrics and a ton of autotune and featured 13-year-olds driving a car. Everyone started sharing it and making fun of its teenage star. Like almost everyone else on this list, Black received hate and death threats. She was harassed so much for it that she started homeschooling. She’s unique in that she has a thick skin and has been able to laugh at herself, appearing in Katy Perry’s video for Last Friday Night and releasing a single called Saturday. She’s also been releasing videos on YouTube (revealing her pretty, non-autotuned voice) including a few more music videos and some covers. She started her own independent record label and started work on an album that never got released. She also donated proceeds from Friday to her school and to Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake.
The “Star Wars Kid” – AKA Ghyslain Raza – made a video of himself in 2002 wielding a golf club like a lightsaber, and the clip ended up online. While some people loved the enthusiasm in the video, Raza ended up being cyberbullied and he and his family sued the three classmates responsible for putting it online. He lost his friends and had to change schools. People told him to commit suicide. He was diagnosed with depression and spent a year in a psychiatric ward. Now, he has a law school degree from McGill and spoke out in 2013 against cyberbullying.
Antoine Dodson became famous after an interview he gave after someone broke into his house and tried to rape his sister. He’s best known for coining “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife.” After the news clip was posted, he gained notoriety and YouTube stars the Gregory Brothers made a remix of his clip that also took off. Since then, he sold merchandise online and endorsed a Bed Intruder Halloween costume and a sex offender tracker app. He has run into some trouble with the law involving drugs. He revealed that he was gay and had been raped in the past, but has since become a Hebrew Israelite and said he was no longer into homosexuality. He has a son with his wife. He launched a Kickstarter to fund a reality show, but failed to reach his goal.
Internet fame is generally ephemeral, especially if you don’t get famous for one of your talents, like “Alex from Target” who just happens to be “cute.” If anybody wants to parlay their Internet fame into a career, they have to be talented and they have to make people forget why they got famous in the first place, because the initial attention won’t last.
