Internet sensation
Sweet Brown is now suing software giant Apple for profiting from her YouTube
success without permission, say many who are following her story. Kimberly
“Sweet Brown” Wilkins is suing Apple, a radio program called The Bob Rivers
Show, and a handful of other parties for unauthorized use of her likeness,
according to court documents.
The basis of the lawsuit stems from a song
called “I Got Bronchitis.” The Bob Rivers Show, according to Sweet Brown’s
complaint, produced the song with samples from Wilkins’ interview with the
local TV-news station. The song sampled phrases like, “Ain’t nobody got time
for that,” “Ran for my life,” and “Oh, Lord Jesus it’s a fire.”
The suit claims that
in April 2012, the defendants started selling the song on iTunes for profit. It
also claims the radio program and its owner falsely advertised that Sweet Brown
had given her consent for the radio station to use her voice in the song.
At that time in June
2012, Wilkins wanted $15 million from the defendants. It has since moved to the
District Court of Oklahoma. It looks like “Sweet Brown’s” bank account is about
to grow if this reaches the courts.
Her theatrical
retelling of the moment she realized there was a fire was uploaded onto YouTube
and has been viewed by over a million people. Well just like her predecessor, Antuan Dodson,
Sweet Brown is capitalizing off her fifteen minutes of fame just as any of us
would, at least ide lke to think so.
Let’s take a walk down
memory lane shall we. Introducing Mr. Antoine Dodson.
"Well I woke up
to go get me a cold pop, and then I thought somebody was barbacuin' and I said
oh Lord, Oh Jesus, it's a fire. Then I ran out, I didn't grab no shoes or
nothin,' Jesus. I ran for my life, and then tha smoke got me. I got
bronchitis. Ain't nobody got time for that." No way that you can say you don’t
find humor in any part of this…? Numerous people have taken to
social media in praise of Sweet Brown, writing on Facebook walls and on Twitter
that they want the Oklahoma mother to narrate their life.
I can’t help thinking
that Dodson’s new-found popularity is not about shared frustration over crime
or violence against women. On threads and post around the net, Dodson is dubbed
as “hilarious.” But what is so funny about Antoine Dodson? Part of the Dodson
meme is laughing at mannerisms that the mainstream American knows nothing about
but can associate with the blackness, gayness and poverty that he has been surcummed to. Because there is nothing
amusing about a young woman assaulted in her home right? So I assure myself that people are laughing at
Antoine about his flamboyance and perceived gayness; his use of black mannerisms, like “run tell dat,” plus grammar and
accent...
I believe Sweet Brown
found a place on every gawked at site and show for nearly the same reasons.
It’s her bright head scarf, her gold teeth that keep flashing as she speaks,
her emotionalism. It’s the way she says
Lord Jesus, it’s faahr! in a drawl that speaks of the backwoods. It’s her very
name: Sweet Brown. Sweet Brown is so country. So poor. So uneducated and “black!” For most video watchers, this does not make
her a recipient of any sympathy but ridicule. The knee-jerk amusement of
watching this may keep us from asking critical questions that in any other
pre-tense, we might!
For instance, what
other witnesses did news producers overlooked to bring us Sweet Brown? In a book,
Reality Bites Back, Jennifer Pozner writes about how reality TV producers seek
out characters that provide drama, including those that increase stereotypes
about race and gender. In a rapidly shifting media landscape, has this thinking
made it into the newsroom, affecting the way reality is really presented?
When bad things happen to poor, country,
uneducated, stereotypically black people, is it not still a tragedy? Or just
funny? Because what the folks who forward this video to you probably won’t add
is that the fire at Brown’s apartment complex burned five units and left 44
without electricity. The Red Cross has set up a shelter for residents. No
laughing matter at all. But for the sake of entertainment we all got a
flashback of things or people that we might have met along our way that
reminded us of people, just-like-her.
