Chris Crocker
took his own advice -- he left Britney alone. Months after
his delirious YouTube video launched and scored almost 18
million hits (and throngs of parodies), the
platinum-topped 20-year-old from Pentecostal Tennessee
speaks with The Advocate about his reality
show, Britney Spears, damage control, and the antigay
abuse he endures frequently, as detailed in our recent
article “Homophobosphere.” In his latest
YouTube video, he discussed The Advocate and bemoaned
Internet homophobia and threats to the safety of video
bloggers. Yep, even that earned him a few scoops of
Internet flak.
Has your reaction to antigay hate mail changed
since you launched into the public eye?
Well, you know,
I’m used to the threats online, and I always have
been. That’s always been there, the gay
bashing. The gay bashers come out to play on my
comment threads. I never took them seriously because
I’ve never been threatened that way in person,
but it’s just -- it’s not OK, because
had I not gained a sense of self a long time ago or known
how to protect myself, then I might be a really scared
person right now. It just kind of concerns me for all
the 14-, 15-, and 16-year-old video bloggers out there
who are gay that might encounter this. I’m not so
scared, but it scares me for people who have to
encounter this who maybe don’t have a sense of
self or, you know, know how to protect themselves.
Do you still operate from Tennessee?
Actually,
I’m only in Tennessee in one week out of the month.
I’m mostly in L.A.
How has life in Tennessee changed for you?
You know what,
it’s like -- well, obviously, when I fly back [to
Tennessee] it’s like flying back to the future, but I
think, Oh, I’ll have time to wind down and
catch up on my sleep. But it’s really hard
to just go out at all, because now I’m getting, like,
middle-aged men at the mall making comments. The
harassment is real in real life, but it’s never
as extreme as online.
What do those guys say when they spot you at the mall?
It’s
usually just sort of comments like “Oh,
there’s that fag from online.”
What’s up with the status of your reality show?
I actually find
out this week about the status of that. We filmed for
three or four months, just doing the pilot. We turned that
in for review.
If the reality show works out, will you relocate to
L.A. permanently?
At first I was
like, I don’t want to film at all in Tennessee.
I’m done with that chapter of my life. I
have no unfinished business here. I’m ready
to move on. But now I think I really need to sort of
let people see what small-town gay-boy life is still
like in 2008. So I think I want to do more filming
here if it’s picked up.
You used to say the only gay pride in your hometown
was in your own bedroom. Have you found any gay allies
back home?
I have friends
here, but when you’re gay in a small town,
you’re just friends with the other gay people,
but not because you have common interests, it’s
more … you’re both gay, you’re stuck
here, let’s just be friends. But I have some
gay friends here.
By and large, how do gays respond to you?
It’s
mostly positive, at least. The people that don’t like
me usually don’t say anything, so I
wouldn’t know. The people I talk to are usually
positive.