“Obama Girl”? That’s so 2008.
After four years, two dozen racy videos and one history-making announcement, there’s a new kind of presidential crush in town, and this one is rainbow-colored.
Meet “Obama Boy,” the tight white tank-top wearing man who is “open, honest and out” and singing from the New York City rooftops that he is the one with a “crush on Obama” in 2012.
In a YouTube video released this week, Obama Boy parodies the hugely popular Obama Girl video, which has gotten nearly 25 million views since it debuted during the 2008 presidential campaign.
“Gay marriage will soon be the norm; it makes me shiny and warm,” sings Justin Brown, who plays Obama Boy in the video, while dancing on NYC subway train poles, shooting hoops and eating corndogs. “You support me unlike the right; you’re my rainbow colored knight.”
John Duarte, who wrote and produced the video, said he was inspired to create the parody after President Obama expressed his support for gay marriage during an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts in May.
“I got a text message from my gay best friend saying. ‘Oh, my God, go on the ABC site right now,'” Duarte, 29, said. “It’s a cool feeling to see your friends feeling like they are getting a voice and not being discriminated against.”
Duarte convinced his friend Brown, an actor and comedian in New York City who is straight, to throw on his tightest swim trunks and most flamboyant Obama gear to serenade the president for the three-and-a-half minute music video.
“It was fun to do, it was fun to make, but it also had to be said,” Brown, 28, said, adding that it was their way of telling the president, “We support you on your decision to support their decision.”
But while the decision to play Obama Boy was heavily influenced by his desire to kick-start his acting career, actor Brown said he did it for personal reasons, as well.
One of his gay friends put off getting married until gay marriage was legalized in his home state of Connecticut in 2008. When it was finally legal, Brown’s friend planned the wedding, but was killed in a motorcycle accident months before the ceremony.
“It hurt me that he wasn’t able to get married earlier,” Brown said. “For me, it’s almost like paying homage to him.”
Brown and Duarte applauded Obama’s decision to take a stand on a topic as polarizing as gay marriage and said they hope their video helps him pick up a few votes come November.
“If it helps anyone to get excited about the election and go crazy about it, then awesome. That would be even better than we expected,” Duarte said.
While the Obama Boy video borrows heavily from the original Obama Girl spot, Obama’s first viral crusher holds no animosity to the president’s latest YouTube suitor.
“I think it’s hilarious,” said Amber Lee Ettinger, aka Obama Girl. “I am flattered by it. … If someone wants to parody my video, more power to them.”
After four years as Obama Girl, Ettinger, 29, said she is staying out of the political arena for awhile and instead focusing on her acting career in California.
Brown said he no plans to be Obama Boy forever, either.
“For me as an actor,” he said, “I don’t necessarily want to become Obama Boy for the rest of my life.”
As for an Obama Boy, Obama Girl video collaboration, he said, “You never know.”