BOSSIP Exclusive: King Keraun - From Five Time Felon To YouTube Star

The Felon Turned YouTube Star Now Working With Disney’s Maker Studios

King Keraun has gone from the Big House to the Magic Kingdom in just few short years.

Five-time felon King Keraun’s witty vines, memes and videos have garnered him more than one million followers on Instagram.

King Keraun, real name Keraun Harris, has parlayed his social media success into his own YouTube channel, and he’s now working with Disney’s Maker Studios on distributing his video content.

“I’m Disney’s hood n***a,” the father of one laughs. “I create content, they get it picked up by ABC, CBS.”

Harris’ success came after he served “two years of hell,” in a federal lockup in 2009 for robbery and credit card abuse convictions. He admitted that he tried to steal bullets from a gun shop, and a retired police officer in the store confronted him. He said the officer grabbed him, and he pushed the man’s hand away, which he said upped the charges.

When he got out, the Houston, Tx. native had a baby on the way. He began working a job specifically meted out to felons—working with chemicals in oil fields for $10 an hour. Harris said the job made his nose bleed. He said he soon quit because he couldn’t take it anymore, and began posting funny videos online to pass the time as he looked for another job.

“Now, I look at it like a blessing,” Harris said, “because it brought me to where I am now. It made me desperate. I said whether I’m gonna be broke, or I’m gonna be a millionaire.”

Since then, Harris has boosted his profile online, posting videos on YouTube, Vine and Instagram daily, and now counts Russell Simmons as one of his mentors.

“Her (his daughter), and not having any other options, being a five time felon, made me dig deep and go as hard as I could go,” Harris said. “People started following me. Before I knew it, it got real.”

Harris’ work mantra of writing and producing his videos is modeled after his hero, Martin Lawrence’s career.

“I feel like he’s the epitome of ‘do it yourself,’” Harris said. “Martin produced everything. If I’m on it, I wrote it and I gotta produce it.”

Disney isn’t his only gig. Harris said he’s going for more acting and producing roles, and has co-founded “Dreams To Reality,” an online platform where users can realize their career hopes and wishes.

“I just want to keep progressing,” he said. “I’m not trying to wake up and be Martin. I’m trying to wake up and be better.”