Donnie Davies is a fictional character who is featured in a number of websites. Davies describes himself as an

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

youth

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

, " reformed homosexual", and lead singer for the band Evening Service. Davies and the band were unknown until the release of the music video for the anti-homosexuality song "The Bible Says" on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

in January 2007. Davies claims affiliation with the organization Love God's Way Ministries, which launched a website around the same time as the release of the video. He is also the founder and spokesman for the C.H.O.P.S. program. The acronym stands for "Changing Homosexuals into Ordinary People Sexually". C.H.O.P.S. is promoted through Love God's Way's website. His video was removed from YouTube.com without comment from the company and has been removed by Google. It has since been put back up on YouTube.

Controversy

Much of the initial controversy revolved around whether or not Davies is genuinely promoting an anti-gay agenda, or if this is a

viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way tha ...

campaign. Some

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 3 ...

advocates acknowledge that as a spoof it is humorous, but claim the message behind it is still as malicious as someone who seriously possessed the opinion. Debate has quickly risen regarding the authenticity of Davies' youth ministry activities, the band Evening Service, and the organization Love God's Way ranging from entertainment publications such as ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' to thousands of personal blogs

Some in the

blogosphere The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social networking service in which everyday authors can p ...

maintained that Davies was truly seeking to "convert" other homosexuals to

heterosexuality Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...

. Others considered Davies ministry and the video part of a carefully designed

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

mocking the Christian Conservative community. Other controversies involve the claims on Donnie's website of what music "will make you gay." This included some of his own music. Gay rights organizations, such as Heartstrong, are addressing this as a serious threat to the gay community. Several blogs speculated that Donnie Davies was a character created by improv actor Todd Quillen or out gay director

Jason Bolicki Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He wa ...

. On 9 February 2007,

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

Webcam Correspondent posted a video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, proving Donnie Davies to be a character played by actor

Joey Oglesby Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

. The piece interviewed the actor and director and included their surprise that anyone took the video as being serious.

References

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External links

Donnie's new video, Take My HandDonnie Davies' webpage

Evening Service

Love God's Way Ministries

* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3egOusDlgKI Webcam Correspondent 3: The Online Hoax, Donnie Davies?
Heartstrong
Musical hoaxes

Controversy

See also

References

External links