- published: 11 Apr 2012
- views: 62195291
Kevin Antoine Dodson (born June 14, 1986) is an Internet celebrity, singer, actor, and former resident of the Lincoln Park housing project in Huntsville, Alabama, whose interview on local television news became an Internet sensation and resulted in an Auto-Tuned song by The Gregory Brothers that has sold thousands of copies on iTunes and appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 list. The interview that propelled Dodson into fame was prompted by the report of a house intrusion and attempted rape of his sister Kelly Dodson.
Dodson was interviewed on July 28, 2010, by NBC affiliate WAFF-48 News after the attempted rape of his sister by an intruder in her bedroom, in the projects of Lincoln Park.
The video of the interview caught attention because of the passionate and flamboyant style of his delivery, speaking directly to the camera, in which he directly addressed the people of his neighborhood as well as the would-be rapist, and his use of street vernacular. The reactions were mixed. Some local viewers phoned the TV station to complain that interviews with people such as Dodson reflected poorly on the community, whereupon the station defended broadcasting the interview by stating that censoring such people is "far worse." Jonathan Capehart, editorial page writer for The Washington Post, wrote that Dodson became an instant Internet sensation because "in this age of fake reality TV, he puts the real in reality," to which he later added that Dodson "is one of the strongest people we’ve seen in a while."
George Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture. He was the host of the late-night talk show Lopez Tonight on TBS until its cancellation on August 12, 2011.
Lopez was born on April 23, 1961 in Mission Hills, California. He was deserted by his father when he was two months old and by his mother when he was 10 years old, but was raised by his maternal grandmother, Benita Gutierrez, a factory worker, and step-grandfather, Refugio Gutierrez, a construction worker.
In 1999, Lopez hosted a major morning radio show for Clear Channel Communications in Los Angeles. He was the first Latino to have headlined the keystone morning radio slot on an English-language station in LA—the nation’s top radio market.
In 2000, after several years of performing stand-up comedy, Lopez was approached by actress Sandra Bullock for Lopez to produce and star in a comedy. Bullock was concerned about the lack of Hispanic-oriented sitcoms on American television and pushed to get a sitcom on television that starred Hispanics without being exclusively about the Hispanic American community. Long criticized by Hispanic American groups for lack of Latinos on their television shows, ABC quickly picked up the television series. In 2002, Lopez became one of the few Latinos to star in a television comedy series, following in the footsteps of Desi Arnaz, Freddie Prinze, and John Leguizamo. George Lopez is an American situation comedy that originally aired on ABC from 2002–2007. Lopez is the co-creator, writer, producer, and star of the show.