About

Kevin Antoine Dodson is a Huntsville, Alabama resident who was famously 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. After the Bed Intruder video went viral in mid-2010, an autotuned remix of the interview by Schmoyoho widely circulated online, gathering more than 130 million views over the next seven years and popularizing the catchphrase "hide yo kids hide yo wife."

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

On the following day, Redditor panhead posted a link to the WAFF coverage on /r/Funny^[2], where it accrued 810 upvotes, 559 points overall and 225 comments before it was archived. After the news footage was uploaded to YouTube by user Z01D1111 later that same day, Buzzfeed^[3], Dlisted^[4] and Best Week Ever^[5] all shared the video. Over the course of the next several days, Dodson was featured in a second Best Week Ever article^[6], Cnet News^[7] and celebrity gossip site Oh No They Didn’t^[8] among many others.

Criticisms

Meanwhile, a few of the news articles focused more on the serious discussions surrounding the viral video, including The Washington Post^[9] and theBVX,^[10] who examined the possible reinforcement of stereotypes by laughing at the footage. Additionally, Jezebel^[11]and the Woman’s Day blog^[12] focused on how it seemed people were overlooking the attempted sexual assault discussed. Locally, many residents of Huntington, Alabama criticized WAFF-48, saying that “interviews with people like Antoine reflect poorly on the community.” WAFF-48’s correspondent Elizabeth Gentle officially responded to criticism by saying that “censoring people, like Antoine, is far worse.”^[30]

Dodson's Response

On July 30th, WAFF-48 aired the following report in which they address the criticism and get Antoine's reaction to his newly-found fame (shown below). By August 3rd, he had created a website for himself, Antoine-Dodson.com^[13], as well as a YouTube channel.^[14]

Reality TV Show

On January 21st, 2011, celebrity news site TMZ reported that Antoine Dodson is looking to start his own reality television show, which would be produced by Couples’ Retreat actress Kali Hawk^[16] and follow the lives of the Dodsons family, including Antoine and his five siblings, as they make a fresh start in the west coast with their newfound opportunities. While Dodson has stated that "[he has] already filmed a number of scenes chronicling his move from Huntsville to Hollywood," his reality TV show proposal was never picked up for production.^[17]

Then on March 14th, 2014, Dodson launched a Kickstarter ^[31] campaign to fund a reality television show about his life titled The Antoine Dodson Experience. Dodson explains on the page the show will follow him:

"watch the birth of his baby, repair his relationship with his baby-mama, move on from his latest ex-girlfriend (who also happens to be his brother's ex-girlfriend), explore his sexuality, attempt to reconcile with his estranged family and figure out how to move his mom and siblings from the projects to a better and safer life."

The Kickstarter's funding goal is $38,000, which must be pledged by April 28th. Incentives for backers include a shoutout from Dodson on Facebook and Twitter for those who donate $35 and a personal video message from Dodson for those who donate $250. As of March 19th, over $700 has been pledged.

Antoine Dodson vs. the Intruder Fight

On October 30th, 2014, it was announced at a press conference in Beverley Hills that Antoine Dodson would be fighting the alleged 'bed intruder', Rashaad Cooper, in a one-on-one boxing match on pay-per-view platform ETV.com ^[32]. The announcement of the fight, taking place on November 2nd at 2 p.m. also came with Cooper alleging that he was at the time dating Dodson's sister, and was not an intruder and was subsequently forced to move cities. ^[33]

On May 12th, 2015, TMZSports uploaded footage of Dodson being knocked out by Cooper a second time (shown below).

Notable Examples

Bed Intruder Song

On July 30th, 2010, the Gregory Brothers' of Autotune The News released the "Bed Intruder Song" (shown below), 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. As of May 2013, the Bed Intruder song has amassed more than 114 million views on YouTube.

On August 26th, 2010, Antoine Dodson discussed the success of the song on NBC's Today Show in an interview by Mark McCarter. The track was released as DLC for the music video game Rock Band 3 on the Rock Band Network on June 26th, 2011, credited to Antoine Dodson and The Gregory Brothers featuring Kelly Dodson, much like the official single release. The song remains uncensored.

Other Notable Covers

Personal Life

On January 11th, 2011, Antoine Dodson helped kick off season three of the popular Comedy Central Show Tosh.0 in a Web Redemption skit.^[22] 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] As of May 2013, Dodson did spend some time in Los Angeles (shown below), but it is unknown if the show will still air.

Arrests

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

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]

Dodson was arrested a second time 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 into custody for the night. He was released the next day on a $516 bond.

Dodson Renounces Homosexuality

On April 28th, 2013, Antoine Dodson tweeted two messages about researching his personal history, one questioning why black people had been slaves^[23] and a second telling his critics to call him "the true chosen Hebrew Israelite fag" out of respect.^[24] He stayed quiet on his social media accounts for several days before announcing on his personal Facebook fan page^[25] that he was renouncing his homosexuality and would be pursuing the Hebrew Israelite faith on May 2nd, 2013.

Two hours later, he followed up with a second Facebook post^[26] telling people that he has found his calling in life. The next morning, TMZ^[27], Gawker^[28] and the Daily Dot^[29] reported the story, noting that many commenters worried he had been hacked. On May 3rd, Dodson recorded a YouTube video to reaffirm his conversion, calling TMZ liars and money-worshippers for arguing that Hebrew Israelites believed in Satan.

On September 25th, 2015, Dodson uploaded a video titled "Apologies to the LGBT Community," in which asked forgiveness for the things he said he 2013 (shown below).

Support of Donald Trump

On November 10th, 2016, Dodson uploaded a video to YouTube celebrating the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States (shown below, left). On November 13th, he uploaded a video titled "Donald Trump President!! Part 1," in which he expressed hope that Trump would create more jobs (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References