How does a teen from Owensboro end up on CNN, Headline News, and “The Today Show”
By taking a chance.
By: Danny May
“Sometimes you just have to go for it!” That was the inspiration that led Catholic High Senior Nicholas Gray to ask Jennifer Lawrence to prom. Well, not to her face exactly. Instead, he did what any tech-savvy teenager does these days: he posted a video to YouTube. But thanks to CNN, “The Today Show,” and several other Tri-State news outlets, that video has gone viral in just a few short weeks.
Gray still hasn’t gotten a response from JLaw’s camp yet. But that wasn’t entirely the point anyway. According to Gray, the point was just taking a chance and maybe having a story to tell. “Honestly, I’m not expecting her to actually say yes,” says Gray. “I was just hoping for a reply. Any reply, and it will be worth it.”
That’s right, buddy. Swing for the fences! Because if he strikes out, so what? Best case scenario: he becomes an instant legend at Catholic High and the envy of thousands of young men across the world by showing up to his senior prom with JLaw. Or, he may end up with a “thanks, but no thanks” email from Jennifer Lawrence framed on his wall one day. Either way, Nicholas Gray wins.
But wait a minute: can you imagine the poor girl at Catholic High that might have to play second fiddle to Jennifer Lawrence? Just imagine, “Well, Jennifer Lawrence said no, so would you want to go to prom with me then?” How’s that gonna go over?
Gray says he didn’t think it through that far. In fact, none of this was actually thought out that far. The story behind the video is simply this:
One night, Nicholas was just sitting in his room when the thought just hit him. There was no lightening-bolt-moment-of-inspiration. The next day he told his mom “I think I’m gonna film a video asking Jennifer Lawrence to prom. Wanna help?”
Her response: “Sure!”
With rented tux (for added affect) and with bow tie in place, they set up in the small studio behind their house to shoot the video. While his mom was setting up the lights and cameras, Nicholas scribbled out a goofy little poem (Rhyming “we’re both from Kentucky and we both think school is kind of yucky” etc) in hopes of winning Lawrence’s affections. The whole thing took about ten minutes.
“It was entirely off the cuff,” Gray admitted. “We shot it twice, but only because the first take was out of focus so we did it again. I hit the record button on the main camera, and my mom used a hand-held for a second camera shot.”
While the video was rendering, Nicholas started a Facebook Page called “JLaw: Prom?” Thirty minutes later, the video was live.
Friends and Family
The first night (Sunday) the video had exactly what Nicholas expected– 10 shares, around 100 likes and 200 views. By Monday it was up to 1,000 views, but by the end of school Tuesday it had 14,000. That’s when it really went out of control. 14 News WFIE interviewed Nicholas on Tuesday and by Wednesday it had over 20,000 views.
Going Viral
The amazing course of events of the next week can largely be attributed to WBKR’s Chad Benningfield, who sent the link to his news contacts when he caught wind of the story. From his referral, Pop Crush picked it up and ran a nice article. Then other news agencies and radio stations in Bowling Green, Evansville, and Louisville did little bits about it. Robin Meade at Headline News covered it, which is how CNN heard about it so they ran it on Monday. After CNN ran it, “The Today Show” called and asked to do an interview.
“I got a phone call from my mom, and she said The Today Show had called her and they wanted me to fly up and do an interview,” Gray said. “But they had that big snow in New York City and all the flights were canceled.” Even though the interview didn’t work out, they did mention Gray’s video the next day, which was Tuesday.
Still Waiting
The video concludes with the words “Sometimes life commands you take a chance.” The next several months will tell how this story plays out. Watch the video for yourself at YouTube or Facebook at JLaw: Prom?