Courtney Wright
The famous story of the Crichton Leprechaun originated from a news story that was aired on March 14th, 2006, which covered the sighting of what the people in the city of Crichton, Alabama thought to be a Leprechaun. The story of the "Crichton Leprechaun" quickly became famous world wide, and is considered to be one of the worlds first viral videos (Toole, Connor. “Why the ‘Alabama Leprechaun’ Is Still the Best Video in Internet History 15 Years after It Came Out.” BroBible, 17 Mar. 2021). The people of Alabama recognized the fame that the news story brought to their state, in fact, the business owners of Alabama immediately understood how the story of the Crichton Leprechaun could be used for the benefit of their business.
Every year on around St. Patrick's day, statues of the Crichton Leprechaun are placed outside of these businesses, and merchandise featuring the amateur sketch of the leprechaun are sold. The success that businesses see from the use of the Crichton Leprechaun have been prevalent for years, but more recently the question of whether or not those business owners should continue to profit from the use of the Crichton Leprechaun has been asked among the individuals of Alabama more and more. People have discovered that a majority of the business owners that have profited from poking fun at the story of the Crichton Leprechaun are white, and many African American's residing in Alabama aren't too comfortable with the idea of white business owners gaining benefits by joking about a story that originated in an African American community. Crichton, Alabama is a city that is made up mostly of individuals that are African American, and most of these business owners do not live anywhere near Crichton so to many individuals who do live in Crichton, it appears strange that they are the main ones benefiting from it's success instead of the people who actually do live in Crichton (Harris-Marshall, Sharonda. “It’s Time to Retire the Crichton Leprechaun.” Medium, 4 June 2021).
It is evident that the Crichton Leprechaun has benefited the people of Alabama, but whether or not it has benefited the right group of people is still a question that people are trying to answer. Many people worry if the Crichton Leprechaun's lingering impact has negatively impacted the way that people view the African American individuals of Alabama to this day, as many people have concerns regarding the old, and harmful stereotypes about the education of African Americans and whether or not it is as good as their white peers (Brantley, Mike. “TV’s Bill O’Reilly Asks: Is Crichton Leprechaun News Story Racist?” Al, 30 July 2009). While the Crichton Leprechaun is a funny story and should be recognized as such, it is important to consider the individuals who really deserve this recognition, as well as the individuals who actually should be benefiting from the fame the news segment has in the long run.
Work Cited:
Brantley, Mike. “TV’s Bill O’Reilly Asks: Is Crichton Leprechaun News Story Racist?” Al, 30 July 2009
Harris-Marshall, Sharonda. “It’s Time to Retire the Crichton Leprechaun.” Medium, 4 June 2021
Team, WDSU Digital. “‘where Da Gold at?’ Viral Mobile Leprechaun Video Turns 15 Years Old.” WDSU, 24 June 2021 (Image)
Toole, Connor. “Why the ‘alabama Leprechaun’ Is Still the Best Video in Internet History 15 Years after It Came Out.” BroBible, 17 Mar. 2021
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