| "Crush on Obama" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song by Leah Kauffman 2nd | |
| Published | YouTube |
| Released | June 13, 2007 |
| Genre | Political, comedy, pop |
| Length | 3:18 |
| Songwriter(s) | Leah Kauffman, Ben Relles |
| Producer(s) | Rick Friedrich |
"Crush on Obama" is an Internet viral video, first posted on YouTube in June 2007 featuring a young woman seductively singing of her love for then-U.S. Senator (later President) Barack Obama.
The video was produced by BarelyPolitical.com, was lip-synched for the video by actress and model Amber Lee Ettinger, and Leah Kauffman (of "My Box in a Box" fame) provided the vocals. [1]
The concept was the brainchild of 32-year-old advertising executive Ben Relles. "Crush on Obama" was co-written and produced by Rick Friedrich. [1] The creators sold two shirts and the red shorts used in the video in an eBay auction. One of the shirts garnered $1,000. Proceeds from the auction were donated to the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness. [2] On May 25, 2007 Ben Relles placed an ad on the online classified website, Craigslist, seeking a music video director. [3] The ad was answered by filmmakers Kevin Arbouet and Larry Strong. Filming began later that same day in and around various New York City landmarks. Arbouet and Strong co-directed and shot the entire video in about six hours. The whole film project took approximately two to three weeks. [4]
On June 13, 2007 the video was posted to the video sharing website YouTube and garnered over one thousand views within the first five hours of its posting. [5] By the second day the American news media had taken notice of the video's growing popularity. Relles, Ettinger and Kauffman appeared on many television news programs. [5] The video was nominated in the Politics category in the 2007 YouTube Awards. [6]
When asked about the video by the Des Moines Register on June 18, 2007, Obama said, "It's just one more example of the fertile imagination of the Internet. More stuff like this will be popping up all the time." [7] Obama told the Associated Press that the Obama Girl video had upset his daughters and said, "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions have on kids and families." [8]
Obama's campaign stated they had nothing to do with the video's creation. [9] Kauffman and Ettinger confirmed this during their June 15, 2007 appearance on Fox & Friends , where they said that the video was not made to support Barack Obama in his campaign but rather for fun. They also expressed interest in making more videos of the same genre for other candidates of other parties as well. [4]
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. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and worked as a civil rights lawyer and university lecturer.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to former president Barack Obama.
Larry C. Johnson is an American blogger and former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. He is the co-owner and CEO of BERG Associates, LLC.
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email. For a video to be shareable or spreadable, it must focus on the social logics and cultural practices that have enabled and popularized these new platforms.
On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama, then-junior United States senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois. Obama announced his candidacy at the Old State Capitol building, where Abraham Lincoln had delivered his "House Divided" speech. Obama was the main challenger, along with John Edwards, to front-runner Hillary Clinton for much of 2007. He had only recently emerged as a national figure in Democratic politics, having delivered the DNC keynote address just three years prior and won his Senate election shortly thereafter.
Amber Lee Ettinger is an American actress, Internet celebrity, model, and singer.
Ben Relles is an American businessman. He was formerly the Head of Comedy at YouTube, as part of the company's YouTube Originals program. In this role, he oversaw development of new content from YouTube's top comedy talent. Currently, he is working with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Prior to joining YouTube, he was Vice President of Programming at Next New Networks.
Leah Kauffman is an American singer and songwriter who is responsible for singing and writing popular viral videos, including "My Box in a Box", "I Got a Crush... on Obama", "Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl", "I Like a Boy", and "Bernie Bae". The first song was written by Kauffman, the second and third were co-written by Kauffman and Ben Relles. Kauffman does not appear in the videos, instead actresses lip sync to her vocals. Most recently, Kauffman wrote and performed the song "Perfected: The Ann Coulter Song", the video of which features Kauffman, rather than a lip-syncing stand-in, for the first time.
Cara Cunningham, is an American transgender Internet personality, songwriter, recording artist, YouTuber, and former pornographic film actress. As of October 2010, Cunningham's videos had received a combined 50 million plays on MySpace, and her vlog channel on YouTube was the 100th-most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views, before Cunningham closed her YouTube account in September 2015. Her work consists mainly of short-form, self-directed monologues shot in her grandparents' home.
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The Key of Awesome was a YouTube channel that produced comedy videos starring writer/performer Mark Douglas. "The Key of Awesome" was created by Mark Douglas and Ben Relles and is the channel's most popular series, mainly producing viral music videos and parodies. Barely Political was created in June 2007 by Ben Relles and subsequently debuted its first music video, "Crush on Obama", starring Amber Lee "Obama Girl" Ettinger, created by Ben Relles and Jake Chudnow. Videos on the channel have been seen over 3.37 billion times online. "The Key of Awesome" became the central identity of the channel.
"A More Perfect Union" is the title of a speech delivered by then-Senator Barack Obama on March 18, 2008, in the course of the contest for the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nomination. Speaking before an audience at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Obama was responding to a spike in the attention paid to controversial remarks made by Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and, until shortly before the speech, a participant in his campaign. Obama framed his response in terms of the broader issue of race in the United States. The speech's title was taken from the Preamble to the United States Constitution.
This article compares the presidential candidates in the United States' 2008 presidential election. It does not cover previous elections. Because of ballot access restrictions in the United States, not all candidates appeared on the ballots in all states.
Barack Obama, who served as the 44th President of the United States, has elicited a number of public perceptions regarding his personality and background. As the first African-American President of the United States, his race and culture played a prominent role, both positively and negatively.
Iman Crosson, 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.
Casey Kauffman is an American journalist who works for Al Jazeera English, the first English-language news channel headquartered in the Middle East.
Barack Obama won the 2008 United States presidential election on November 4, 2008. During campaign, by using social media and mobilizing the general public online, Obama was able to raise awareness and financial support of his campaign through the use of over 15 social networking sites.
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.
