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Ruffling Some (Peacock) Feathers

Fresh from attracting 3 million viewers to his "California Gays" video, Ryan James Yezak ups the budget and takes on another Katy Perry tune — the very gay "Peacock."

CALIFORNIA GAYS PEACOCK MAIN X390 (RYAN JAMES YEZAK) | ADVOCATE.COM

With almost 3 million views on YouTube, Ryan James Yezak’s "California Gays" has become one of this summer’s biggest Internet sensations. Now, he’s back with another Katy Perry parody — this time taking on the scandalous song “Peacock” off her new album, Teenage Dream. The video, proclaimed by Perry on Twitter as “Jaw Droppin’,” serves it to us with a healthy dose of scantily clad bellhops and football players. And yes, even a live peacock, straight from Ventura County.

The Advocate: So "Peacock" has over 130,000 views in just two days. Was it the millions of views as well as Katy Perry’s enthusiastic response to "California Gays" that made you decide to do another one of her songs this time around?
Ryan James Yezak: Yeah, it was. And I happened to run into one of her music-video producers on the Fourth of July in Laguna Beach, and he told me about “Peacock.” He said, “This song is going to be hot. It’s going to be a gay anthem.” So right away I was like, “OK, let’s do it!”

Obviously the production value has increased. Between new camera equipment, location shoots, and costumes, is it safe to say the success of “California Gays” helped with this?
Oh, yeah. The problem I have is that depending on the success of my previous videos, I’m one of those people who have to outdo myself, or try to at least. I like to entertain, so I’m like, “Oh, crap. How do I top that?” In order to bring the vision for this video to life I had to have a bigger budget. Before, I had come up with these concepts that didn’t require locations and could just be done on the beach, and here or there. So If I can’t bring it to life correctly, then I can’t do it. So in order for me to do that I have to have more money and better equipment.

And a live peacock.

[Laughs] Yes, a live peacock! Had to have that, you know. It just completed it.

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Reader Comments
  • Name: Ki-Jana
    Date posted: 9/13/2010 9:42:56 PM
    Hometown: Evans

    Comment:

    Actually, they're still online; I just watched both of them. They were quite entertaining. :)

  • Name: Arturo Danker
    Date posted: 9/2/2010 6:57:05 PM
    Hometown: Portland, Or

    Comment:

    Listen to Spencer, boy knows what he's talking about.

  • Name: Josh
    Date posted: 9/2/2010 11:02:28 AM
    Hometown: San Diego

    Comment:

    It was a clever video, but very lame song.

  • Name: Mike2810
    Date posted: 9/2/2010 4:25:33 AM
    Hometown: Over the Rainbow

    Comment:

    Videos are still online ! What are you talking about ? Did your parents put some filters on your pc or something ? lol

  • Name: Joe
    Date posted: 9/2/2010 3:30:52 AM
    Hometown: Los angeles

    Comment:

    Looks like both videos have been removed from YouTube. I guess the recede company wasn't pleased after all

  • Name: Spencer Titus
    Date posted: 9/2/2010 12:58:10 AM
    Hometown: Newton, KS

    Comment:

    As Ryan said IN THE INTERVIEW, Katy Perry's producer approached him and told him about the song. EMI owns the rights to the video and they all knew exactly what was going on. Calm down. By the way, I'm one of the guys in the video and a close friend of Ryan's. ;)

  • Name: Noelle
    Date posted: 9/2/2010 12:34:08 AM
    Hometown: Dallas, Texas

    Comment:

    You REALLY think he hasn't thought about legalities of the videos....COME ON people...give hime SOME credit!!! Ugh!!

  • Name: Tucci
    Date posted: 9/1/2010 11:49:48 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    (1) Yeah, Katy does seem to enjoy the videos... but it doesn't mean much. Its the record company (not the artist) who typically owns the rights to the artist's songs. Though the artists get royalties, unless their a big name like Madonna or Michael Jackson (who have heavy weight in the music world), they aren't making much at all from record sales. Artists make their money from touring and merchandise sales. So, really, its the record company who has say of how the artist's music is used. (2) He IS making money from these videos through Youtube's advertising progran (which is the reason why you see an add pop up in the first part of the video). Don't get me wrong... this guy is VERY good at these videos... I'm not trying to discredit him in anyway. I just hope he's thinking about the legal side of things. After all, teenagers are getting sued left from right for sharing music.

  • Name: Dameon
    Date posted: 9/1/2010 10:36:24 PM
    Hometown: Phoenix

    Comment:

    Presumably, as the artist herself finds his videos amusing and one of her music video directors was giving Mr. Yezak the heads-up about this particular song, there won't be any problems. And honestly, as long as he's not making any money off of these, what's the problem? It's free advertising for Katy Perry, really. Why would she want to stop that?

  • Name: Tucii
    Date posted: 9/1/2010 9:53:53 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    It's not a parody. The music and lyrics are copyrighted material.



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