@lohanthony
Age: 15 y.o.
Twitter followers: 1.3m
Even if the technology had been there, Lohanthony couldn’t have happened until recently. The YouTube persona of Anthony Quintal—the littlest big diva—so confounds what society traditionally has expected from 15-year-old boys that it’s unlikely that the world would have been ready for him. Quintal has been making videos in his mother’s New England home—mostly discussing his life and pop-culture loves in a manner that manages to be enthusiastic and world-weary at once, full of gasps, wigs, and pregnant pauses—since at least age 10. His most famous video, “CALLING ALL THE BASIC BITCHES,” is a nine-second burst of flamboyance in which Quintal wears sunglasses and pink suspenders and twirls his green-tights-clad leg like a propeller while chanting, “Calling all the basic bitches, calling all the basic bitches / There is a new announcement: You’re basic.”
Lohanthony gets called gay a lot. He’s not interested in confirming or denying. “I’m 15—there’s no time to explore anything,” he says. Quintal’s YouTube moniker is a portmanteau of his first name and the last name of his idol, Lindsay Lohan. Last year, Lohan herself joined the growing number of Lohanthony’s celebrity admirers, tweeting at him, “I love you more! thanks for the love and support.” Quintal posted a 36-second video reaction, in which he fanned himself, squealed into the camera, and pretended to cry. “Someone call 911,” he gasped. “Life Alert. Someone, please.”
Lohanthony might be a savant of camp, but Quintal says that he is “definitely unfiltered” in his videos, as opposed to putting on an act. “At school, I say little to no words. It’s not about anything but my work at this point. It’s like America’s Next Top Model: I didn’t go there to make friends, I just go there to get my shit done.” Online, he explains, “I’m alone, and I feel so much more comfortable with myself.”
Photo: Jason Nocito
Photo: Jason Nocito
Photo: Jason Nocito
Keith Powell (left) Avenue L and East 92nd Street, Canarsie. On August 20, 2006, Powell was on his way to visit a brother when he was struck by a drag-racing car. Witnesses said the driver ditched the stolen car and fled. Jian-Lan Zhang Allen and Hester Streets. Zhang, a 55-year-old Chinatown resident, was struck and killed by a delivery truck on April 16, 2008.