How viral video can be hilarious and still hurt us
OPINION - In our bare-all reality TV culture, we rationalize making people the butt of our jokes by saying that they have consented to it and/or don't mind...
I must admit that I laughed when I saw Antoine Dodson’s rant on the news after the attempted rape of his younger sister. The attempted rape itself was in no way funny and I can understand why Dodson was so animated in the video — it must have been traumatizing for the entire family. But there’s no denying that Dodson was funny. Hilarious in fact. Let’s be honest, he was just like something out of a Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock skit — a walking parody if you will. Yet I felt bad laughing, telling myself that I shouldn’t be laughing at his expense.
But, as it turns out, Dodson himself doesn’t mind people laughing at his expense. In fact, he’s turning it around so that he is the one profiting. “Have I made money off this incident? Of course I have. Do I look stupid?” he brags in a video on his new website, set up since the original video aired. Dodson is now capitalizing on his new found fame and comedic value by setting up his own website — featuring videos of himself meeting fans and answering questions from members of the public who have written to him — splitting profits of a song that is now #35 on the iTunes chart and doing radio and television appearances around the country.
But, let’s remember what started all of this. It was an attempted rape. Dodson may have been funny in saying that people should lock up their husbands, but he was talking about a sexual assault on his sister. With that in mind, there is something that’s very distasteful about the 15 minutes of fame that he is now receiving.
WATCH ‘TODAY SHOW’ COVERAGE OF ANTOINE DODSON:
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The parody song that has been recorded by The Gregory Brothers and has received over 12.4 million YouTube views in a few weeks is an auto-tuned version of Mr Dodson’s on-camera rant. What’s shocking about it is the way in which it totally trivializes the fact that Dodson is singing about the attempted rape of his sister. “They’re raping e’erybody”, he sings, sounding uncannily like T-Pain. Is this really the type of thing to set to music?
That someone thinks it appropriate to set a video about a reaction to an attempted rape to music, give it a silly title — the ‘Bedroom Intruder’ song — and make it into a piece of comedy, shows that there is seriously something with how some people view sexual assault. Just recently there was a sex attacker in my neighborhood who raped three or four women before being caught. Some of them he reached by climbing in through their bedroom windows in the middle of the night, just like what happened to Dodson’s sister. I was terrified until this man in my neighborhood was caught, and for the women who were attacked or who he attempted to attack, it must have been a nightmare come true. Rape really is no laughing matter.
Some may say that Dodson has been clever and savvy in making the most of a bad situation. When you get lemons, turn them into lemonade, right? And yes, perhaps Dodson has been savvy. After all, he pledges that any money he makes will go not only towards moving his family out of the projects, but to a charity that helps children with junior diabetes. That I can commend. But it is still not ok with me.
In our bare-all reality TV culture, we rationalize making people the butt of our jokes by saying that they have consented to it and/or don’t mind. But just because he doesn’t mind being laughed at, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t mind for him. We are mocking him and enjoying it and he is silly enough to fall for it, for a quick buck and 15 minutes of fame.
It has become cool to be ridiculous and make an idiot of yourself for the world. We are fascinated by people doing stupid things. We enjoy laughing at them. If you want to be famous just go on TV and do something stupid. How about we reward people handsomely for adding value and contributing something, rather than essentially teaching them that degrading themselves is the key to success.
Importantly, we have to ask exactly why it is that we find Dodson so hilarious. The answer isn’t pretty. Let’s face it, he is a walking stereotype. He fits the unfortunate stereotype of idea of what it is to be a head-swiveling, ignorant-sounding black person from the projects. That is what people are really laughing at. And that’s not cool.
I have no issue with Dodson making a great career for himself and would like for him to do so. I want him and his family to get out of the projects, and perhaps this is what he needed. However, I hope that whatever does come out of it for him will see him elevated from being the butt of the joke to being able to create something credible.
