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“Gangnam Style” may have stolen Rebecca Black’s YouTube crown — but the 15-year-old Californian doesn’t begrudge PSY his success. “I love that song!” she told EW enthusiastically earlier this week. “I have it on my phone. We rock out to it all the time.”
But all things considered, Black doesn’t have much time for rocking out. She’s too busy performing in concert, recording new songs, and otherwise trying to spin her viral video stardom into a legitimate music career. In her spare time, she’s also speaking out against bullying on behalf of a new campaign called “Be Good To Each Other.” Black — along with other celebs like gymnast Nastia Liukin and Pretty Little Liars actress Janel Parrish — designed an anti-bullying t-shirt that’s being sold throughout October, also known as National Bullying Prevention Month. All proceeds from the shirts will be donated to PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center.
Clearly, Black knows a thing or two about being teased; her “Friday” music video made her a national punchline everywhere from late night TV to, uh, this magazine. So as the teen’s new campaign began, we chatted with Rebecca over the phone about dealing with “Friday” backlash, facing ridiculous rumors, and trying to launch a music career in spite of it all. Warning: Do not read if having “fun fun fun fun” stuck in your head doesn’t sound like, well, fun.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Since it’s 11:37 a.m. in California right now, I’m guessing you’re not in school. Are you homeschooled?
REBECCA BLACK: Yeah. There was a lot of press out there about, you know, “Rebecca Black gets homeschooled [because of] bullying.” But I wouldn’t say that I began homeschooling because of bullying. There’s so much time involved in this industry, and I just found myself missing lots of school. And yeah, there are a few mean kids at school, but…
Even if bullying didn’t directly lead to your leaving school, you’ve obviously faced a ton of negative attention. Can you take me through your experience with bullying?
It was pretty much right off the bat. READ FULL STORY »
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