Antoine Dodson / Bed Intruder

About

Kevin Antoine Dodson is a Huntsville, Alabama resident recently interviewed by NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News^[1] in a news clip about the local police searching for a man who broke into the Dodsons’ home and then tried to assault one of his sisters in bed.

Origin

On July 28th, 2010, North Alabama’s NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News reported that local police are searching for a man who broke into a home then got into bed with a woman. According to the news story, that Wednesday morning, Kelly Dodson woke up to an intruder in her bed. The woman’s brother, Antoine Dodson, rushed to her room after hearing his sister scream. After a brief struggle, the intruder escaped through a window. Antoine said the suspect left behind his shirt and fingerprints.

WAFF-48 sent a correspondent to speak with the victims, which resulted in the following report:

“Well, obviously we have a RAPIST in Lincoln Park. He’s climbin’ in your windows, he’s snatchin’ your people up, tryin’ to rape ‘em. So y’all need to hide your kids, hide your wife, and hide your husband cause they’re rapin’ everybody out here.”

Spread

• First memetic hub post to Reddit on 7/29.^[2]

• BuzzFeed posted Don’t Cross Antoine Dodson on 7/29.^[3] Other places that covered the video on the 29th included Dlisted^[4], and Best Week Ever^[5].

• Over the next few days, Antoine was mentioned in another Best Week Ever article^[6], Cnet News^[7], and Oh No They Didn’t^[8].

• A few of the articles focused more on the serious parts of the situation: possible reinforcement of stereotypes like The Washington Post^[9] and the BVX^[10]. And some focused on how it seemed people were overlooking the attempted sexual assault like Jezebel^[11] and Woman’s Day’s blog.^[12]

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Criticism & Response to Popularity

While Antoine was becoming an internet sensation, many residents of the Alabama community criticized WAFF-48, saying that “interviews with people like Antoine reflect poorly on the community.”

WAFF-48’s corespondent Elizabeth Gentle officially responded to criticism by saying that “censoring people, like Antoine, is far worse.”

On July 30th, 2010, WAFF-48 aired the following report in which they address the criticism and get Antoine’s reaction to his newly-found fame:

By August 3rd, he had created a website for himself, Antoine-Dodson.com^[13], as well as a YouTube channel.^[14]

Auto-Tune the News

On July 30th, the Gregory Brothers’ of Autotune The News released the “Bed Intruder Song”, which would rise to popularity as the 25th most bought song on the main iTunes charts when it was released, selling more than 10,000 copies in the first two days of its availability. ^[15]

At one point, the Bed Intruder Song entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at #89.

The video spawned derivatives on its own, including covers on piano, acoustic guitar, marching band, ukulele, and a Tsugaru Shamisen:

YouTube user omnomnomandrew posted an acoustic mashup of the Bed Intruder Song with the Double Rainbow song.

Marching Band Cover

On August 11, 2010, YouTuber ShowTimeWeb posted a cover video of Bed Intruder Song by the North Carolina A&T University Blue & Gold Marching Machine.

Please note: That this is a reading / practice session.

Pop Punk Cover

On August 25th a pop punk version of the song was uploaded to YouTube by Hayley Williams (Paramore), Jordan Pundik (New Found Glory), and Ethan Luck (Relient K).

Rock Band

The track was released as DLC for the music video game Rock Band 3 on the Rock Band Network on the 26th June 2011, credited to Antoine Dodson and The Gregory Brothers featuring Kelly Dodson, much like the official single release. The song remains uncensored.

Antoine in the Media

On August 26, 2010, Antoine Dodson was featured on NBC’s Today Show in an interview by Mark McCarter.

On January 11, 2011, Antoine Dodson helped kick off season three of the popular Comedy Central Show, “Tosh.0”.

Antoine Dodson Reality Show

On January 21, 2011, celebrity blog TMZ reported that Antoine Dodson would be getting his own reality television show, produced by Couples’ Retreat actress Kali Hawk.^[16]

According to various sources, this planned reality docu-soap will track the Dodsons family, including Antoine and his five siblings, making a fresh start in the west coast with their newfound opportunities.

Although still without a title, a distributor and a network, Dodson has “already filmed a number of scenes chronicling his move from Huntsville to Hollywood,” according to PopCrunch.^[17]

Arrest

On April 23rd, 2011, TMZ reported that Antoine Dodson had been arrested for marijuana possesion:

Dodson was popped in Alabama by Huntsville PD at around 2:30 AM. He was booked on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana and released a short time after. According to the jail’s website, Dodson was hit with a few other misdemeanor charges -- two for failing to appear on a traffic charge, one for failing to have insurance and one for speeding.^[18]

Second Arrest

On the night of September 24th, 2011, Dodson was pulled over in Huntsville for playing music from his car that could be heard louder than 50 feet away.^[20] The police found that he had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court after his April 23rd, 2011 arrest^[21] and took him in to custody for the night. He was released the next day on a $516 bond.

External Links