Leave Britney ... Oh, You Know the Rest
It was the cry heard round the world: "Leave Britney alone!" After pop star Britney Spears' much maligned 2007 MTV Video Music Awards performance — what was supposed to be a comeback after a roller-coaster year — it seemed the singer had not a friend in the world. In came Tennessee 20-year-old Chris Crocker, already a popular blogger and vlogger on MySpace and YouTube, to stand up for his beloved idol. His two-minute harangue included such charming lines as, "You're lucky she even performed for you bastards!" The video quickly went viral and generated a healthy bit of skepticism for the young man who was known to have done what he calls "Internet acting." But Crocker defended himself on Maury, saying that it was real emotion and that "before I'm an American, I'm a Britney fan." Crocker capitalized on his newfound fame and now has a budding iTunes-based music career.