"David After Dentist" Made $150k For Family

It turns out recording your drugged child pays pretty well. 7-year-old David DeVore became an overnight sensation when his father posted a video of his ramblings after dental surgery. To date that video has made the DeVore family around $150,000. Most of the money came from YouTube, but the family has made $50k from licensing and merchandise. From the article: "The one seemingly minor decision to make the video available all over the Internet set off a whirlwind of changes for the DeVore family. Within just four days, 'David After Dentist' received 3 million views on YouTube and the younger David quickly became an Internet celebrity. His father quit his job in residential real estate (did we mention they live in Florida?), and the family started selling T-shirts featuring cartoon drawings of their son post-dental surgery."

Comments

Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[eldavojohn]

This is the correct response when you become an instant global entertainer--not a $351,000 lawsuit. Or are you going to sue me now for teasing you about losing a lucrative merchandising opportunity?

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[casings]

Not everyone wants to whore themselves out for money.

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[MightyMartian]

Not everyone wants to whore themselves out for money.

No, just 99% of us.

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[Maxo-Texas]

A lot of people who say they would never whore themselves out for money just haven't been seriously offered hard cash right there in front of them to whore themselves out.

From the stories I've heard over my lifetime, the range seems to be $1,000 to $10,000.

A girl I was talking to about this a few years ago said that a man once offered her $1,000 and she had an orgasm right there sitting in the chair in the bar.

I think my figure is a bit higher. I have good circumstances so it would need to be high six figures.

But who knows... confronted with a pile of $150k, tax free...

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[ElectricTurtle]

There is an old anecdote attributed to Winston Churchill (though unlikely something he actually did):

Churchill: Madam, would you sleep with me for five million pounds?
Socialite: My goodness, Mr. Churchill Well, I suppose we would have to discuss terms, of course
Churchill: Would you sleep with me for five pounds?
Socialite: Mr. Churchill, what kind of woman do you think I am?!
Churchill: Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[need4mospd]

Yeah, the other 5% of us aren't that smart.

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[ffejie]

am I to assume that he either found or invented a form of human suspended animation and put himself in it until recently, when he was unfrozen, given a law degree, and started practicing law

Oh my, this sounds like a wonderful idea for a show. Former internet sensation gets frozen and given a law degree and then unthawed millions of years in the future. It would go something like this...

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm just a caveman. I fell on some ice and was later thawed by some of your scientists. Your world frightens and confuses me! Sometimes when I fly to Europe on the Concorde, I wonder, am I inside some sort of giant bird? Am I gonna be digested? I don't know, because I'm a caveman, and that's the way I think! When I'm courtside at a Knicks game, I wonder if the ball is some sort of food they're fighting over. When I see my image on the security camera at the country club, I wonder, are they stealing my soul? I get so upset, I hop out of my Range Rover, and run across the fairway to to the clubhouse, where I get Carlos to make me one of those martinis he's so famous for, to soothe my primitive caveman brain. But whatever world you're from, I do know one thing - in the 20 years from March 22nd, 1972, when he first ordered that extra nicotine be put into his product, until February 25th, 1992, when he issued an inter-office memorandum stopping the addition of that nicotine, my client was legally insane. And, for that reason, I ask that you find him.. not guilty. Thank you.

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

But who knows... confronted with a pile of $150k, tax free...

Effectively this is exactly what actual prostitutes are confronted with every single day. And this is the problem with adopting the position that prostitution is always wrong.

You can say its demeaning, or that greed should not justify selling yourself to others for the evening. But the reality is that most professional prostitutes earn more money doing what they do than they could otherwise. When you make prostitution illegal, you effectively tell these people that they must give up their better paying positions and take on often far lower paying ones simply because you disapprove of what they do.

You're free to disapprove, but is it right to take away someones income for that reason alone? Going back to the topic, these people have made money out of this internet video. A lot of money in fact, that can be used to give a better life to David and the rest of his family. If we claim that David's misfortune is being exploited and that this shouldn't be allowed, will it be right to take away the benefits that this video brought to spare feelings?

Who should be making these decisions? Society or individuals?

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[jedidiah]

Most of the 99% don't stoop nearly this low.

"Whoring" really captures what's going on. Actually, "pimping" might be more accurate.

Re:Are You Taking Notes, Ghyslain Raza?

[noc007]

Came here to post that. Seriously, everyone has their price. I find it funny when someone wont acknowledge that they are a whore or at least have a price. Walk up to any person on the street, present them with a large sum of cash, make an offer to exchange the cash for something from them, and they'd seriously consider it and may even take the offer if they feel it's worth it to them.

casings, to expound on Maxo-Texas' post, take for example a young legal-adult lady with strong religious convictions to save her virginity for marriage. Offer her $5 million in tangible cash she could count on the spot to have sex with a dirty old man; she will seriously consider it. If she turns it down, offer her $500 million in cash and I'd wager she'd accept.

Story time:
I frequent an enthusiast forum for a specific car brand. Obviously the majority of active members are heterosexual males. One of the people that frequented the board was a chick who's career was modeling; on her website it stated what types of modling she did, including "tasteful nudes", and had a portfolio of her work. There were some shots of her clothed but in prvocative poses next to her car of the same car brand and these ended up being posted by her or someone else on to the enthusiast forum. Obviously those threads went down the path of comments of how hot she was and other generalized intercourse statements. She bitched about about how those kinds of threads always ended up becoming a "meat fest". I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that the modeling she does is only for innocent artistic value, but I didn't expect the offending comments to be anything different given the demographic. Through the various posts of her picutures people did over time, at some point, someone identified her porn stage name and a simple search revealed a number of hardcore porn videos of her.

What I found hard to understand was her disgust over the typical "meat fest" that ensued over her in provocative pictures, yet she does porn. She can't be truly ignorant to the fact that millions of 13yo boys to wrinkly old men jerk it to those videos. I suppose I could accept it being her right to be offended at the reaction her pictures and videos create, but in my book it's moronic for her to be offended and she shouldn't expect anything less, especially from paying customers that fund her.

lulz

[Pojut]

"IS IT GONNA BE THIS WAY FOREVER????"

I know what you mean, kid...I know what you mean.

Great...

[Adys]

... you guys slashdotted youtube.

Scarred?

[twoallbeefpatties]

You realize that the kid and his dad WERE on Tosh.O, and the kid seemed completely sane about it. He looked like he was having a good time, and the sketch allowed him to pretend to drug up his dad and get revenge on him. I'll bet the kid looks back on this later on in life and has a good laugh about it.

Re:College Fund

[RobDude]

He was a real-estate agent in Fl....so I mean, not exactly a big loss there.

My brother in-law was a real-estate agent who didn't make a sale for a solid 18 months before he quit. Can you really call it 'quitting' if you haven't received a check in 18 months?

I dunno if this guy was in a similar situation, but the market in FL is supposed to suck pretty bad from what I hear.

$100,000 through youtube?

[cwtrex]

The article never fully explained how they received $100,000 from youtube. Was it the t-shirts they were selling? If so, I would say they earned $100,000 from selling t-shirts of their now famous son and not that they received the majority of their funds from the youtube video itself even if it was an direct cause of those t-shirt sales. To me, the t-shirts are an indirect stream of revenue caused by the video. Revenue directly from the video itself to me would mean ads before or after the video or some other means of revenue that is passively accrued after the video is viewed.

I would love to have it cleared up for me as to exactly how "most of the money came from Youtube."

Re:$100,000 through youtube?

[canajin56]

youTube has ads on them. You may have noticed, those annoying boxes that float up from the bottom, that you instinctively click the X on? If you get a certain number of views, Google starts paying you a portion of the revenues that your video is pulling in.

Re:$100,000 through youtube?

[amicusNYCL]

the owners (the kid's despicable parents)

Initially, the video was meant to be shared amongst friends and family. At the time, however, YouTube's only alternative to sharing a video with the world was to share it with just 25 people. So, instead of setting "David After Dentist" as "Private," the video went "Public" for everyone to see.

The DeVores, however, say the licensing deals for their video fell right into their laps.

Their largest deal came from a Vizio Super Bowl ad featuring several other Internet celebrities, such as the "Numa Numa Guy." In total, they received around $8,000 and young David DeVore, already used to the on-screen exposure, was seen by millions during the biggest game of the year.

the younger David is just trying to live like a normal 9-year old kid. After finishing the 3rd grade on the honor roll, David is on summer break and just attended football camp in Tampa Bay. He is also taking guitar lessons though that doesn't necessarily translate to more on-camera time for the young viral star.

"He's not interested in becoming a TV star, he's just a regular kid," his father tells us. "He's got other things that interest him."

The father speaks very highly of his wife and two sons, and he is extremely grateful for the video's wild success. "We do look at it as a blessing, in a crazy 21st century way," says David. "It's allowed me to have the flexibility and freedom to be with my family."

They're also open to posting videos of aspiring musicians or performers looking for exposure onto their YouTube channel which, according to David, still attracts 100,000 - 125,000 views a day.

Despicable, despicable people. No doubt these people are deserving of the world's scorn, and are in fact useless human beings. I am only too pleased to be able to cast my righteous judgement down upon these worthless sub-humans. I look forward to more opportunities where I can judge people I don't know from the internet. I believe that doing so makes me a better person. I'm glad that you agree.

He didn't quit

[name_already_taken]

I can't believe the father quit his job over this. Does he really think this is really gonna support his family in 5 years time?

"Quit" is a euphemism for saying he wasn't making any money selling residential real estate anyway, so he decided to sell t-shirts, which turned out to be the right decision. I know a realtor who right now is decorating cakes at a local supermarket.

It's not like realtors are "employed" anyway - they can be affiliated with a brokerage, but they're not employees in the classical sense. They can come and go as they please and work as much or as little as they choose to.

He can go back to selling real estate any time he wants, it's not like he gave up tenure or something.

Re:The real question...

[Anonymous Coward]

C-C-C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Re:And in 6 months time?

[trashbird1240]

This is how they should spend the money: a vasectomy for dad, therapy for the kid in twenty years, college fund, and a parenting coach.

Re:The real question...

[omarius]

Uh, oh. Leave it to some open source-oriented site to fork "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Re:The thing that really floors me

[Cytotoxic]

I live in Florida - before the crash there were something like 8-10 real estate agents for every person in Florida. They caused traffic jams when herds of agents would cross the road. Airports installed propane cannons to scare real estate agents away from the runways. When we had hurricanes, real estate agents would pile up on the beaches in huge drifts. Now that the real estate bubble has crashed hard there's only about 3-4 real estate agents per person.

It is pretty easy for a working agent to get a listing, particularly a condo listing, since there are about 5,000 empty condos per resident. Getting a sale is an entirely different matter. He's pretty candid that he made more money not selling real estate for the last year - that should tell you something about his success as an agent.