A YouTube video of a Milken Community High School student asking out a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model has caused a media frenzy over the past two weeks — and racked up more than 2.3 million views in the process.
Milken 12th-grader Jake Davidson, who created and stars in the video, “Kate Upton, Will You Go to Prom With Me?” has been the subject of news stories everywhere, including “The Today Show,” CNN, the Los Angeles Times and the Huffington Post.
“It was pretty surreal. I never thought it would happen like that,” Davidson said of the publicity storm caused by the video and Upton’s subsequent promise to “check my schedule.”
In the YouTube clip, Davidson performs a series of daily tasks (showering, shaving, push-ups) while he makes his case for why Upton, a 20-year-old American model and actress, should accompany him to his prom on May 23.
“I’m Jewish, 5-[foot]-9 on a really good day, and I can’t dance — at all,” Davidson says in the video, which has gone viral.
Story continues after the jump.
Davidson, 17, made the video with help from Milken alumna Talia Myers, 20, a sophomore at the University of Southern California and student of the school’s cinematic arts program.
Said Myers: “[Jake] said he would try to make it go viral, [and] I know what he is capable of. If he says he is going to do something, he is going to do it.”
Davidson and Myers shot the video, which lasts 1 minute and 46 seconds, in a single morning and afternoon on March 16. Filming was done at Myers’ home and on Mulholland Drive, where Davidson gets down on one knee and asks, “So, Kate, will you go to prom with me?” Davidson and Myers posted it to YouTube the following day.
On March 19, Upton tweeted: “You can call me Katie if you want! How could I turn down that video! I’ll check my schedule ;).”
National attention followed. Perhaps the biggest surprise for Davidson was being asked to appear on NBC’s “The Today Show.” During the March 20 broadcast, Upton called in to talk to Davidson, who was joining the show from its L.A. studio.
“I absolutely loved the video. It was so hilarious and so creative,” Upton told him.
Then, Davidson asked Upton again if she would be interested in going to prom.
“Well, I definitely have to check my schedule. And you seem like so much fun. And if everything works out, I would love to go with you,” Upton said.
The Los Angeles Times reported on March 26 that Upton turned down Davidson’s request due to her schedule being booked, but, speaking to the Journal three days later, Davidson said her official reply remained a maybe. Management company IMG World, which represents Upton, did not respond to the Journal’s e-mail asking if Upton planned to attend Milken’s prom.
Davidson, who lives in Sherman Oaks and plans to attend USC next year, said students from Milken and other Jewish schools, along with friends from Jewish summer camps and United Synagogue Youth, gave the video its initial push on Facebook. This pleased him more than anything else, he said.
“It showed me how great the Milken community is, which sounds kind of cliché, for them to all share it and send it to their friends and stuff,” he said. “[It] was cooler to see that happening than to get all of the calls [from the media].”
Davidson said that he has not processed the experience enough to figure out what he has learned from it. But, he said, “If you have any type of goal or dream, just pursue it with reckless abandon.”
