Iman Crosson | |
|---|---|
 Crosson in 2014 | |
| Born | March 27, 1982 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, impressionist |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Website | YouTube.com/Alphacat |
Iman Crosson (born March 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Alphacat, is an American actor, impressionist, and YouTube personality known for his impersonations of former U.S. President Barack Obama and his starring role in independent film Along the Roadside.
On December 14, 2005, a 23-year-old Crosson opened a YouTube account with screen name Alphacat. In July 2008, at the urging of his fellow waiters, Crosson created spoof videos of then U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. [1]
During the summer of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election campaign, Crosson's 30-second video won Denny's Restaurant's nationwide contest for the best impressionist of the then-candidate Barack Obama. [2] He said that he "went from unemployed to self-employed in literally a matter of a month." Crosson moved from New York to California, obtained an agent specializing in helping talent cross over from online to mainstream, and was invited to be on America's Got Talent. [1]
On YouTube, Crosson specialized in mashing up his Obama impersonations with hip-hop songs, his spoofs of Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" and T.I.'s "Whatever I Like" being viewed 20 million times each. [3]
After Obama's January 2009 inauguration, Crosson was featured on several entertainment and news television shows, blogs, and newspapers. Crosson was called a "YouTube sensation" by Fox News' Neil Cavuto. [4]
Crosson's post-inaugural work included voice-overs in Newsweek's The District, a video series in which Crosson narrated Obama's first months in Washington from the President's point of view. [5] Crosson impersonated Obama at the 66th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner on March 17, 2010. [6]
In October 2012, Crosson performed as Obama in the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History in the "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" episode, the music single of which was certified gold by the RIAA. [8] Additionally, Crosson appeared as President Broccoli Obama in an episode of The Annoying Orange. [9]
In December 2013, Crosson contributed to an Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") health care exchange's "Tell a friend – Get covered" social media campaign for raising awareness among young Americans to enroll in Obamacare-compliant health insurance, by releasing a video spoof of Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot." [10]
In February 2014, YouTube content creators including Crosson met with U.S. President Obama at the White House to discuss ways in which government could connect with the content creators' viewers, concerning awareness of and enrollment in health insurance policies and other issues. [7] [11]
On May 28, 2014, Crosson as well as other YouTubers and Viners (Andrew Bachelor (King Bach) and DeStorm Power) appeared in will.i.am's Vine music video for "It's My Birthday" ft. Cody Wise.
Crosson has been the voice actor of Barack Obama in Our Cartoon President . [12]
Crosson played the male lead role in the independent film Along the Roadside [13] with supporting actor Michael Madsen, [14] the film debuting at the February 2013 FEST with its commercial release on March 17, 2015. [13]
Crosson played U.S. President Barack Obama in the 2016 Bollywood comedy sequel, Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive , [15] which was filmed in Mumbai, India. [16]
In April 2024, Crosson appeared in the television show NCIS as Lt. Elliot Greene, who had encountered an unidentified aerial phenomenon in flight. [17]
There were several video and audio recordings released by Osama bin Laden between 2001 and 2011.
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and as a civil rights lawyer and university lecturer.
Jonathan H. Alter is a liberal American journalist, best-selling author, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011. Alter has written several books about American presidents, most recently His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life, published in 2020, the first independent biography of Carter. Alter is a contributing correspondent to NBC News, where since 1996 he has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. In 2021, Alter launched a newsletter called "Old Goats: Ruminating With Friends", where he has conversations with accomplished people who share their wisdom and experience. In 2013 and 2014, Alter served as an executive producer on the Amazon Studios production Alpha House, which starred John Goodman, Mark Consuelos, Clark Johnson, and Matt Malloy. In 2019, he co-produced and co-directed Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists," a documentary about the columnists Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill, which received the 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Documentary.
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"President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden (SPOOF)" is Iman Crosson's spoof video posted to the YouTube video sharing website, including a spoof of U.S. President Barack Obama's May 1, 2011 speech announcing the death of Osama bin Laden. The video is the basis of the rap music single "Momentous Day".
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Baracksdubs is a popular YouTube channel and series that uses Barack Obama speeches to create cover songs, generally of popular songs. The channel was created by Fadi Saleh as a then-freshman student of the University of Tennessee. The channel was a Maker Studios partner from 2012 to 2015, when Saleh formed his own company, Spare Time Entertainment.
GloZell Lyneette Green, better known mononymously as GloZell, is an American YouTube personality. GloZell established her YouTube channel in 2008, with video interviews, comedy about her life and song parodies. By 2015, the channel had accumulated more than four million subscribers and more than 700 million total views. Her most popular videos include her cinnamon challenge video, which has accumulated more than 53 million views, and "My Push up Bra will help me get my man" video, with more than 25 million views. She gained wide notice when her blog about meeting Elijah Wood was mentioned by the actor during a 2011 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In 2012, she appeared in the web series Dr. Fubalous.
"Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" is a song and music video, performed by Iman "Alphacat" Crosson, Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff, and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. It is the 8th episode of the 2nd season of the YouTube video series Epic Rap Battles of History. The video was released on October 15, 2012 on the show's YouTube channel in anticipation of the 2012 US presidential election.
Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive is a 2016 Indian satire comedy film written and directed by Abhishek Sharma. A sequel to the 2010 film Tere Bin Laden, it narrates the story of an aspiring filmmaker who bumps into an Osama bin Laden look alike, and also samples materials from the prequel. The film stars Manish Paul, Pradhuman Singh Mall, and Piyush Mishra, and was released worldwide on 26 February 2016.
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