The trend started with Sgt. Scott Moore, currently serving in Musa Qala, Afghanistan. He put up a video on youtube a few weeks ago asking ‘Friends With Benefits’ star Mila Kunis to accompany him to the Marine Corps ball on Nov 18th in North Carolina.
During a press junket for her new movie, someone asked Kunis if she had seen the video, and whether she would accept the invitation. With a little convincing from her co-star Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, to the sergeants delight, agreed to attend the ball.
A few days later a video surfaced of Corporal Kelsey De Santis asking Timberlake to accompany her to the Marine Corps ball in Washington D.C on November 12th, saying that if he couldn’t attend, all she could say was “Cry me a River.” In an interview with the Today Show this morning both stars confirmed that they would be attending, only expressing the wish that there were one big ball instead of many.
Over the weekend two more youtube videos of soldiers asking stars to the dance surfaced. The first with an invitation for Betty White, and the second for Oprah.
Sergent Ray Lewis’s youtube video appeared on the Today Show this morning, and in a style much like that of the hit reality TV series, The Bachelor, Lewis’s video ends with him in uniform, holding a rose, asking his celebrity choice of Betty White to accompany him to the ball. “I would like to take Betty White,” says Sgt. Lewis, because “she’s just funny, she’s sweet, she’s mature…” he says smiling.
In perhaps the most recent video, Lance Corporal Kevin Suruki wrestles a fellow soldier to the ground, then turns to the camera arms crossed with a ‘Sup Oprah,’ next asking her to attend the Monterey California Marine Corps ball with him in November.
WATCH LANCE CORPORAL SURUKI’S PROPOSAL TO OPRAH HERE
Kunis and Timberlake have been said to be ‘serving their country’ by attending the balls. Many feel that Americans are disconnected from the war they are engaged in in the Middle East. These videos and the stars acceptance of the invitations give a face and personality to soldiers, perhaps reminding those who do not come from a military background of the American people who are fighting in the Middle East today.
