The African-American stunt actor Mark Hicks has been named the Afro Ninja after a video of his audition for a LeBron James commercial for Nike was uploaded on the internet. Before this audition, Mark Hicks actually had a good reputation for being a highly trained martial artist, having appeared in several movies as a stuntman. These attributes was what earned him a slot in the audition for the Nike commercial of LeBron James. This commercial featured Jim Kelly, a childhood idol of Mark Hicks who is a legendary martial arts master. So what’s so special in the Afro Ninja video clip that made more than 80 million people view it and laugh at it?
The Afro Ninja Video and How it All Started
Well, the Afro Ninja video clip was able to capture everything that Mark Hicks performed during his audition. What Hicks was planning to do was to perform an impressive back flip as well as to show his skills with the nunchuck. What happened was this: after giving the camera a “sneer” like expression, Hicks took a breath and proceeded with doing the back flip. However, he was not able to time his landing correctly, which caused him to open early, drop the nunchucks from his right hand, and fall flat on his face. Despite the fact that he came down hard, he still picked himself up and tried to continue.
Again, Hicks was not able to anticipate that he will feel dizzy after the hard fall that he just experienced. So even after dropping the pair of nunchucks he was holding in his right hand and even after falling down hard and flat on his face, he still managed to get up and tried to redeem himself by showing the judges his nunchuck skills. What he did was a bad idea, as evident on the video. While doing some tricks on the nunchuck that he was able to hold on to, Mark Hicks was not able to regain his balance, thus, he fell backwards and out of the scope of the camera (background noises can be heard as Hicks fell).
How the Afro Ninja Video Spread Out from the Internet to Television Shows
A few months after the disastrous first audition performance of Mark Hicks for the LeBron James Nike commercial, the short video clip was then posted to the website of eBaum’s World and was then entitled as Afro Ninja. From eBaum’s World, it soon appeared on the television show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Its spread from the World Wide Web to the popular television show resulted in it becoming a viral video as people from all over the world watched the stuntman Mark Hicks slip, fall flat on his face, pick himself up, and embarrass himself all over again.
Mark Hicks on the Afro Ninja Video Clip
When Mark Hicks was asked during an interview regarding what really happened and why it happened to someone who was known for his martial arts prowess, Mark Hicks told the media that before the audition took place, he just actually had flown back from a business trip to Hong Kong where he was working as a stuntman for the movie Ultraviolet.
Since he just came from a flight, he was still feeling the effects of jet lag when he performed the back flip for the LeBron James Nike commercial. What most people did not know is that the Afro Ninja that has caused them to laugh hysterically did get the job, even after making a fool of him during his first audition performance.
A lot of people who was able to witness the performance of stuntman Mark Hicks found the video wildly entertaining and hilarious and has caused them to crack up and laugh hysterically. This is one of the reasons why the Afro Ninja video has became one of the most popular viral videos that has garnered the attention of more than 80 million viewers.
However, Mark Hicks has stated during an interview that while the leak of the video capturing his disastrous first audition performance caused him to lose other stunt performances as well as acting gigs; he was able to make something good out of his hilarious yet embarrassing experience.
Mark Hicks Producing and Starring on the Movie Afro Ninja: Destiny
Despite the leak of the video Afro Ninja hurting Hick’s career, instead of giving up, he showed everyone what he displayed during his disastrous first audition performance: he picked himself up and decided to make the most out of his embarrassing experience. What he decided to do was to turn his fame from his embarrassing moment, as shown on the Afro Ninja video clip, into a profitable venture.
Despite the fact that this has caused him extreme embarrassment as well as hurt his career, Hicks decided that instead of just wallowing into depression, he rather put his fame into use and thus started his movie project the Afro Ninja: Destiny.
The Afro Ninja Video: Available in http://www.videophenomena.com/afro-ninja/
If you haven’t been able to watch the Afro Ninja video clip of Mark Hicks and you want to know why over 80 million people have watched it and laughed hysterically, you should visit the website of videophenomena. Videophenomena is a website that compiles the most popular viral videos that has been uploaded in the World Wide Web. The specific webpage of the Afro Ninja video clip is http://www.videophenomena.com/afro-ninja/. Aside from this hilarious (and embarrassing) video of Hicks, you would also be able to find other viral videos that have made millions and millions of people crack up hysterically.
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Awesome info. Thanks for the link!
You can read the story behind this guy here:
http://www.thestorybehind.net/video/afro-ninja