If beauty is fleeting, fame is even more so. Yet more fleeting than fame is Internet fame. Of which we have no shortage of in our social media-driven era.
It seems like everyday, at least once a day, a new sensation is born, that somehow makes it to your feed and everyone else’s on the planet, in a manner in which only big-time stars managed to do in the past.
Yet, just as fast as they appeared, these meteors of fame burn away from our collective focus, whether it’s a few days later, a few weeks later or maximum a few months later.
Which raises the question (that I’m sure some of us has had): what happens to these individuals once their moment has gone? Because it’s well known that fame will alter a person’s personality. So, once these people have been affected, but for a little while, do they revert to their old selves? Or does their fame propel them somewhere else? And where? Towards better or worse?
As a few examples, here is some information about some internet celebrities post-fame.
Antoine Dodson
The man who gave you the most precious advice, to “hide yo kids, hide yo wife, and hide yo husband cause they rapin’ everybody out here.” After his rant was auto-tuned and propelled him to audio and meme celebrity, Antoine tried to capitalize on it by endorsing a sex offender tracking app and trying to start a reality show based on his family.
He also mentioned that he’s decided to switch his sexual orientation to heterosexual (he was homosexual before, in case you didn’t know), married and had a baby.
As climax to this tale, he also thought it’d be a good idea to arrange a boxing match between him and the home-intruder that made him famous in the first place. He almost got knocked out with the first punch thrown by the man.
The Techno Viking
What we all thought was a lethal dancing machine meets just as lethal berserker who obviously works out, probably along the lines of battling Ice Giants, turns out, in real-life to be a very private laid-back person. To the point of actually doing the unimaginable (to us) thing of not only not coming forth to capitalize on his fame as Antoine above (hence his name not being known), but actually suing the guy that filmed him impromptu, while dancing on the street and made him a celebrity.
Repeatedly. Until he won compensation for damage to his image from a European court and the right to have all the materials based on the Techno viking thing (and his likeness) removed from the Internet, which is what he’s probably doing right now – hunting for them. With his massive Norse axe.
Chris Crocker
The effeminate (male!) star of the “Leave Britney Alone!” emotion-packed, Oscar deserving(?) rant sure did follow up on his new-found fame. Or so it appeared as he went on to record a few songs and promote them with the help of his new viralness.
This image boost even managed to get him an appearance in a Weezer music video called “Pork and Beans”. So it looked like it might just work for him. Alas, hype is not the only component in long-lasting fame. You have to actually have a skill or something to say to cater to said-hype.
And, as is often the case of Internet celebrities, that artistic talent appears to be lacking in Crocker’s case, judging by the fact that he ended up doing gay porn. With his boyfriend. Oh, well. As long as he’s happy, fame doesn’t matter that much anyway.