'Hide yo' kids...' Thinking back on the Antoine Dodson phenomenon
One of my favorite all-time subjects is doing commercials
“Well, obviously we have a rapist in Lincoln Park. He’s climbing in your windows. He’s snatching your people up, trying to rape ‘em. So y’all need to hide your kids, hide your wife and hide your husband ‘cause they’re raping everybody out here.”
Those words first were heard in an interview with Antoine Dodson, conducted by Elizabeth Gentle more than 15 years ago. Then they were heard in countless incarnations, from hip-hop songs and mixes and parodies and, for all I know, musical greeting cards that bleat out some tune when you open them.
Antoine became a phenomenon, “the kind that can occur only in the world of Internet viruses and social media,” wrote columnist Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post.
The kind of phenomenon that can suddenly launch from Lincoln Park to Washington, D.C.
I was the columnist in Huntsville when Antoine emerged. I flexed both ego and muscle to stake claim to the Antoine Dodson Beat for a while in that summer and fall of 2010. I found him to be a delightful, sweet young man, accommodating for interviews, gleefully signing autographs for people who asked me for his signature and answering questions with uncommon candor.
Antoine was refreshing for me. I was in the midst of a half-and-half professional life, working for some callow, know-it-all bosses and knocking out two columns a week for the sports section, two for the news side. So there was Antoine … and the next day some crabby coach and the next day, maybe something uplifting like a murder trial.
I’ve thought of Antoine often since then. I’ll come across his number in my cell phone directory, or he comes up when people ask about favorite stories I’ve done, or just when I ponder some of the unusual culture of Huntsville I was able to write about.
Then, last night, there he was. Somebody posted a “You ever wonder what happened to Antoine Dodson…” headline on a social media feed that fell into my inbox.
Turns out, he was doing a commercial. Clever tie-in, as it’s for a home security system.
In the midst of his more-than-15-minutes of fame, I worried about him. He was smart enough to realize what he didn’t know. He placed his trust in a lot of professional handlers, and heaven knows I’d seen enough of those relationships go south in the sports world. He was confused in his sexuality and faith. He ended up with negative headlines when he was busted for weed. He was moving in fast company, with TV gigs and people trying to capitalize on this temporary phenomenon for their own attention and ratings and clicks.
And, yes, paint me guilty for the latter. I’m hardly collecting clicks any more for these folks, but here are some old links:
Antoine’s situation left him conflicted. Over lunch one day at Humphrey’s, I asked him where he wanted to be in five years. Softly, he said he’d like to be the owner of a beauty salon and out of the public eye.
But, at another time, this is what he told me:
“I don’t know (where it will lead) but I hope it’s a long journey ahead. I would like to do a lot to writing. would like be the face of somebody or something. Like clothes or shoes. I just want to be everywhere. Everywhere you turn your head, it’s Antoine Dodson.”
Fifteen years removed from the days when Antoine Dodson was everywhere, he’s a father, an employee and a doting grandson. And, yes, the face of a security device. I can’t imagine the journey he has taken, but I couldn’t be more thrilled to see how he has seemed to navigate it so well.