William Hung (born January 13, 1983) is an American college student who gained fame in early 2004 as a result of his off-key audition performance of Ricky Martin's hit song "She Bangs" on the third season of the television series American Idol. In the tradition of Florence Foster Jenkins, he is one of a strange breed of celebrity that has gained fame not by dint of talent, but because of the novelty derived from his lack of talent.

Originally from Sha Tin, Hong Kong, Hung moved to Camden, NJ, United States in 1993 and graduated from the John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles. He attended UC Berkeley, but after starting his record deal, he dropped out from UC Berkeley and was denied readmission. He currently attends Pasadena City College.

Initial fame
While a civil engineering student at University of California, Berkeley, Hung was inspired to audition for the third season of American Idol in San Francisco during September 2003 after winning a talent contest at his dormitory.

Hung was not aware that his American Idol audition would be broadcast until it aired four months later. He was the final auditioner on the January 27, 2004 installment, the coup de grâce of an hour-long episode that showcased other would-be pop stars, mostly lacking in talent.

"I want to make music my living," said Hung, before he started singing and dancing to Ricky Martin's "She Bangs", showing a lack of vocal talent. As judges Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul tried to restrain their laughter, judge Simon Cowell dismissed Hung's performance, remarking "You can't sing, you can't dance, so what do you want me to say?", to which Hung replied, "Um, I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all." Jackson and Abdul applauded his positive attitude, with Abdul remarking, "That's the best attitude yet." Hung's response to Cowell's criticism starkly contrasts with the often confrontational rejoinders of other contestants. Hung added, "...you know, I have no professional training of singing and dancing," eliciting mock surprise from Cowell, who replied, "No? Well this is the surprise of the century." Hung was not admitted to the next round.

Cult following
Hung rapidly gained a cult following. A William Hung fan site, set up by realtor Don Chin and his wife Laura, recorded over four million hits within its first week. Hung subsequently appeared on several television programs including Jimmy Kimmel, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, Entertainment Tonight, The Late Show With David Letterman, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Howard Stern Radio Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Dateline NBC, Arrested Development and CBS's The Early Show. Hung was featured in several national magazines and newspapers; he was parodied on Saturday Night Live and appeared on Celebrity Deathmatch. He was reportedly invited to perform at MTV's Asia Awards held in mid-February. Remixes of Hung's audition performance topped song request lists at a number of radio stations. An online petition to get Hung back to American Idol included more than 100,000 signatures by late February. Hung was brought back to American Idol as part of a mid-season special titled Uncut, Uncensored and Untalented, airing March 1, 2004. The special documented what it was like to experience the audition process and, in Hung's case, emerge as an inadvertent celebrity. There is a degree of irony in Hung's situation, as he has become more famous than many American Idol contestants, despite being arguably one of the worst singers to grace the American Idol audition stage. His unconventional looks, good attitude, and eagerness despite poor singing has won him many fans.

Record deal
Hung was offered a record deal from Koch Entertainment and a surprise $25,000 check from the Fuse music channel on February 18 after reprising "She Bangs" at a volleyball game at University of California, Berkeley. Hung's first single, a cover of The Village People's "YMCA", debuted on March 19. Hung's debut album, Inspiration, recorded over the weekend of March 6, was released on April 6 and includes covers of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" and "Shake Your Bon Bon", as well as Elton John's "Rocket Man", and a 40-minute DVD documenting the making of the album called A Day in the Life of William Hung. The CD includes a "Words of Gratitude" introduction followed by interspersed short inspirational talks. The album has sold approximately 200,000 copies and peaked in the top 50 of the U.S. Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart.

To promote his album, Hung performed before an audience of nearly 20,000 during half-time at a Golden State Warriors game on April 6. Several of his songs reached the top 10 on Apple's iTunes charts, and the album reached #3 on Amazon.com's sales rankings. With the release of the album, Fuse aired a half-hour special called Idol Worship: The William Hung Story, featuring Hung in his first music video, which was another rendition of "She Bangs".

Hung released a Christmas album, Hung for the Holidays, on October 19, 2004. Hung's third album, Miracle: Happy Summer from William Hung, was released July 12, 2005 to poor sales.

Television, commercials and movies
Hung has appeared in commercials for the search engine Ask.com, as well as the mobile phone service provider Cingular Wireless.

His first movie, a low-budget Hong Kong period comedy called My Crazy Mother (2004), was released in January 2005. Hung played a good-natured village kid who sells Chinese pancakes to pay his mother's medical bills. His character gets discovered as a singer, and helps a woman protect her business from her jealous, conniving elder sister. In the film, Hung played opposite veteran Hong Kong actress Nancy Sit and parodied his own American Idol performance with the song Siu Beng (Cantonese) (Chinese Pancake), an allusion to his American Idol audition song, She Bangs. Despite solid financial backing and the involvement of Nancy Sit, the film was a box office flop.

In 2004, Hung was a special guest host on FOX's, FoxBox Saturday morning block.

Hung was the subject of a documentary called William Hung: Hangin' with Hung, a ninety minute film recounting his sudden rise to fame. In February 2006, Hung played himself in an episode of the television series Arrested Development, as part of the fictional band "William Hung and his Hung Jury", the house band of the show "Mock Trial with J. Reinhold".

Hung has appeared in an episode of the MTV Show, Celebrity Deathmatch, where he battles Ricky Martin (who performed the original "She Bangs").

He has also appeared in Airline where he missed his flight, then singing his infamous song once again for the cameras.

Perpetuating racial stereotypes
Few Asian Americans, especially men, have had successful recording careers in the United States. Commentator Emil Guillermo conjectured that Hung may have not gained much attention had he been of another race, and his popularity may be derived from his being a walking representation of the Asian American stereotype, characterized by nerdiness, studiousness, speaking with a strong accent, and lacking singing talent. Documentary filmmaker James Hou commented that "(a)s Asian Americans, we look through this racial lens, and we see this guy who embodies all the stereotypes we're trying to escape from."[1] Some have argued that Hung's career arose out of mockery, and that the media exploited him as a joke rather than as a talented or inspirational figure.[1]. Ron Lin, former editor in chief of the UC Berkeley's Daily Californian notes that "(i)t's really difficult for Asian American males to break through and (Hung) may not be the most appealing example."[2].

On the counterpoint, there is an utter lack of portrayals, negative or positive, of Asian (or Asian American) males in American media. For this reason, Hung has served as a focal point for minority groups. [2] [3] Ironically for a person deemed detrimental to the Asian American image, Hung is one of the most recognizable Asian American artists in the United States. Pat Suzuki's cultural icon "I Enjoy Being a Girl" is often quoted in popular culture, but is not commonly associated with Asian Americans. Another Asian American Idol contestant, Sanjaya Malakar, has also attracted great media attention, but unlike Hung, does not conform to any apparent stereotypes. Yul Kwon, the winner of Survivor: Cook Islands, and Apolo Anton Ohno, the winner of Season 4's Dancing with the Stars are the only other Asian American males to have received similar attention in reality shows other than American Idol.

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