Christopher Darren Cunningham (born December 7, 1987), better known by
the stage name Chris Crocker, is an American Internet celebrity,
blogger, songwriter, recording artist, pornographic film actor and
former YouTuber. Crocker gained fame in September 2007 from his viral
video "Leave Britney Alone!", in which he tearfully defended pop
singer Britney Spears' comeback performance at the MTV Video Music
Awards; his video received over four million views in two days. The
video gained international media attention, hundreds of parodies,
along with criticism for Crocker.Producing and acting in his own
videos, Crocker is a self-described edutainer. In almost all of his
adolescent works, he presents himself as an openly gay and effeminate
Southerner in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt. Using "Crocker"
as a stage name, he kept his exact location private due to safety
concerns and death threats in response to his YouTube and Myspace
video blogs and profile until he was no longer a teenager. According
to his Myspace profile, Crocker lived in Los Angeles as of January
2008. In May 2010, he returned home to Tennessee, and now travels to
Los Angeles for business.Crocker's work consists mainly of short-form,
self-directed monologues shot in his grandparents' home. As of October
2010[update], his videos had received a combined 50 million plays on
MySpace, and his vlog channel on YouTube was the 100th-most viewed of
all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views, before
Crocker closed his YouTube account in September 2015. 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. In 2014, Queerty stated that
with Crocker's thousands of Facebook and Twitter followers, he is "one
of those self-invented social media icons".Crocker was born in East
Tennessee to a teenage couple and was raised by his grandparents.
Crocker said he "raised eyebrows" by bringing Barbie dolls to
kindergarten for show and tell rather than the toys or action figures
more conventionally associated with boys. Crocker continued to live in
Tennessee throughout his youth, and was homeschooled in response to
constant "death threats, bullying and glares at his clothes and
makeup" specifically after allegedly being "harassed by a homophobic
high school gym coach". Crocker lived with his fundamentalist
Pentecostal grandparents who continued raising him when his teenage
parents were not able. While his grandfather reportedly knows little
about his Internet fame, his grandmother has reluctantly appeared in
some of his videos.
the stage name Chris Crocker, is an American Internet celebrity,
blogger, songwriter, recording artist, pornographic film actor and
former YouTuber. Crocker gained fame in September 2007 from his viral
video "Leave Britney Alone!", in which he tearfully defended pop
singer Britney Spears' comeback performance at the MTV Video Music
Awards; his video received over four million views in two days. The
video gained international media attention, hundreds of parodies,
along with criticism for Crocker.Producing and acting in his own
videos, Crocker is a self-described edutainer. In almost all of his
adolescent works, he presents himself as an openly gay and effeminate
Southerner in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt. Using "Crocker"
as a stage name, he kept his exact location private due to safety
concerns and death threats in response to his YouTube and Myspace
video blogs and profile until he was no longer a teenager. According
to his Myspace profile, Crocker lived in Los Angeles as of January
2008. In May 2010, he returned home to Tennessee, and now travels to
Los Angeles for business.Crocker's work consists mainly of short-form,
self-directed monologues shot in his grandparents' home. As of October
2010[update], his videos had received a combined 50 million plays on
MySpace, and his vlog channel on YouTube was the 100th-most viewed of
all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views, before
Crocker closed his YouTube account in September 2015. 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. In 2014, Queerty stated that
with Crocker's thousands of Facebook and Twitter followers, he is "one
of those self-invented social media icons".Crocker was born in East
Tennessee to a teenage couple and was raised by his grandparents.
Crocker said he "raised eyebrows" by bringing Barbie dolls to
kindergarten for show and tell rather than the toys or action figures
more conventionally associated with boys. Crocker continued to live in
Tennessee throughout his youth, and was homeschooled in response to
constant "death threats, bullying and glares at his clothes and
makeup" specifically after allegedly being "harassed by a homophobic
high school gym coach". Crocker lived with his fundamentalist
Pentecostal grandparents who continued raising him when his teenage
parents were not able. While his grandfather reportedly knows little
about his Internet fame, his grandmother has reluctantly appeared in
some of his videos.
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