A Weird Interview With Antoine Dodson

If you're reading this, I'm going to assume that you have an internet connection. And if you have an internet connection, I'm going to assume that you know who Antoine Dodson is. Antoine's video has been viralized within an inch of its life in America, but in England we're just starting to get sick of it. If somehow you haven't seen it, here it is:

Yesterday I called up Antoine for a chat. It's a little short, mainly because I was calling him on the worst connection in the world and didn't bother transcribing the eight billion times I said "sorry, what? Can you repeat that?"

Vice: What's life been like since the video blew up?
Antoine Dodson: It's amazing! It's fun and crazy and exciting!

How did it all happen? Like, what happened after the news crew came over?
Well, about two days after they filmed it I started going to the store and people would be like, "Hey Antoine! Hey that's the guy from YouTube!" So I'm like, "OK, this is serious!" I got myself a manager and got this off the ground! I started doing ring tones and T-shirt lines and keychains and magnets and stuff. It's going pretty well.

How did you end up getting a manager?
Well, I was getting a lot of emails from people saying they was agents and they was managers, so I looked through them all, and Richard stood out the most. And he's great, he has been working hard and fixing opportunities and I really appreciate him.

Have you looked at all of the stuff of you online? Like, all of the things other people have made?
Yeah! It's just so crazy, man! There's so much of it out there! But it's cool, it's funny.

Have you heard the song?
Yup. I LOVE the song! It's on iTunes now!

And you're making money off that, right? Not just the people that made it?
Yes, I am making money off of that.

OK, good. What else have you seen online about you?
A lot of crazy stuff. A lot of people commenting or making they own videos on YouTube or whatever. Some people are saying that I'm illiterate or whatever or the news people played me, but they don't matter. They can say what they want, I'm not affected by them.

Do you have a message for the haters?
Yeah, I'd like to say that if you hating on me, then you need to let it go. You got to wake up and realize that I'm here and I ain't going nowhere.

What do your friends think of it?
They can't believe it! I mean, I can't believe it either. But now it's like, "Wow Kevin, two weeks ago, didn't nobody know who you were." All my friends call me Kevin, they not gonna call me Antoine; you know what I'm sayin'? I'd prefer it if they called me Antoine, but it's cool.

Wait, so is your name Antoine or Kevin?
I want to be known as Antoine. I never liked my first name.

What's wrong with the name Kevin?
I just don't like it!

Are you still at the house where the guy attacked your sister?
No, we still have access to the house, but we aren't there. We haven't been there ever since that happened. My sister is scared.

How does it feel that a very serious thing happened to your sister but it's become this big internet joke?
It's weird. It's crazy, I can't believe it, you know what I'm sayin'? But I can't just let these opportunities get away. I got to be strong about it, and I'll do what I have to do to get this fool caught. I want the world to know that there are people out there who are doing stuff like climbing in your windows, ya know? They could be burglarizing, they could be coming into your home and stealing stuff. People will do crazy things!
Er, OK. What's the neighborhood like that you live in? Lincoln Park, right?
It's cool. But it's like, a lot of people think we have money. They see all our friends pulling up in nice cars and whatever, they say like, "Oh, they got money," but it's really not like that, it's just that we want this story to be heard. We not gonna sweep this under the rug.

Is there any update on the "idiot from the projects" who did this?
No, we still waiting on the fingerprints to come back.

Why do you think people liked the video so much?
Because… it's just… the way I came out… the way I was so angry at the time, because I just wanted him to be caught. I seen the video for the first time like, two or three days later, and I thought it was funny too. You know what I'm sayin'? So, it was funny. I liked it.
Do you think this will lead to something else? Or do you think it's just gonna be an internet thing for a little while, and then disappear?
No, I think it's gonna lead to something. Like, TV or radio or somewhere. It's already blowing up.

Yeah, I hope so! Finally, If you could run and tell anything to our readers, what would it be?
I just want to say that if you're having a problem with your family, you need to get close and really love one another. You never know when you're gonna see that person again, you know? So it's time to drop all the negativity and just be kind to one another, because that's gonna make the world a whole lot better.

Aw, thanks Antoine!

Oh also, Antoine's agent asked me to put some links in here, so be sure to check out Antoine's Facebook, Youtube and official website!

JAMIE LEE CURTIS TAETE