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Steven Slater, the internet loves you

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Steven Slater a YouTube hit
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • YouTube videos commemorate flight attendant Steven Slater's dramatic exit in song, tributes
  • Several singer-songwriters created "The Ballad of Steven Slater"
  • Comedian Stephen Colbert named Slater his "Alpha Dog of the Week"

(CNN) -- You haven't really made it until someone makes a YouTube video about you.

In the case of fed-up flight attendant Steven Slater, the instant working-stiff's hero, it didn't take long for that obligatory 15 minutes of fame to start ticking.

A tribute in song to Slater's theatrical exit from his job on a recent JetBlue flight? YouTube singer-songwriter Jonathan Mann, who posts a topical original song on the video site every day, is happy to oblige.

"There comes a point in every man's life when he's just had enough," he begins, in "Song A Day #587: The Ballad of Steven Slater."

But then the ditty gets a little more ... colorful, quoting some of the more profane tidbits from Slater's reported intercom rant. At more than 56,000 views and rising as of midday Friday, Mann's video is one of the more popular Slater tributes.

YouTube user thestratbrat takes a softer approach, with lyrics like "See you later, Steven Slater, Didn't need no escalator, Just slid right out that airplane door and ran."

Of course this is the type of news story that morning radio hosts dream about. Iowa-based "Dave and Darren in the Morning" opted to create their own "dramatic re-creation" of the event, which has garnered just over 16,000 views and counting in the last three days. In the clip a mock Slater snarls, "I got your peanuts right here, sir."

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For an eerily detailed visual re-enactment of Slater's exit, look no further than Taiwan-based animation firm Next Media Animation. While the narration isn't in English, the visuals speak for themselves by walking viewers through the episode -- from the passenger curse-out to the beer grabbing, down the escape chute and beyond.

And it isn't just clever ballads on YouTube that are showing Slater the love. Stephen Colbert named him "Alpha Dog of the Week."

"We all know due to cutbacks, air travel has become a trip up the Devil's butthole in a flying aluminum suppository," said Colbert on Tuesday night's show. "A 'beta' dog may have remained calm, but Slater bit back like every flight attendant secretly wishes they could."

JetBlue has offered a response, via a blog post on its site, with the simple title that explains it all: "Sometimes the weird news is about us..." The post acknowledges the bizarre event while praising the airline's other "2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight Crewmembers."

With the advent of the cell phone camera and the wide availability of the internet, perhaps the only surprise is that we haven't yet heard from Slater himself. Besides, what is YouTube if nothing but a platform for releasing pent-up frustration in sometimes-profanity-riddled tirades? (We're looking at you, Chris Crocker.)

[TECH: NEWSPULSE]

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