Freedom of Speech for Free!

Roseburg, Ore- It all started when Roseburg High School Junior, Fletcher Case, ordered a tee-shirt on-line from Danny Duncan with the slogan, Virginity Rocks.

Case went to his teachers the week before asking if it would be okay to wear it to school, and heard mixed responses from faculty ranging from, “I don’t see why not”, to, “I’d need to see it first”. Then when his new shirt arrived Case wore it to school, received the blessing of at least one faculty member, but was ultimately sent home because he was told it violated school policy. Following The Roseburg Beacon’s April 11 story about the incident, Danny Duncan said he received over 150,000 Instagram hits and reached out to Fletcher to thank him for supporting his merchandise business and asked if he could come up and thank him by giving away some shirts to other RHS students.

So on Friday May 11, Danny Duncan made good on his promise to Fletch, and having driven all the way from Los Angeles to Roseburg the day before, landed at the Good Vibrations parking lot to “spread some good vibes” to the several hundred students gathered.

The Danny Duncan Crew consists of: Alex Martinez,the official filmmaker (a virgin); Gary Winthorpe, Danny’s ‘life coach’; Kevin (aka Kev) co-star in Danny’s YouTube videos, and Cameron (the little person and a virgin) also a regular in the YouTube videos.

For those, including this writer, who hadn’t heard of Danny Duncan before the Virginity Rocks tee shirt incident at RHS, it might be surprising to learn that the 25 year old Duncan has annual sales of his merchandise, after just a year and a half in business, approaching $3 million.

In the parking lot outside John Hooper’s Good Vibrations, home entertainment, car stereo, and record business, somewhere in the neighborhood of 300-400 students gathered to catch a glimpse of the pop icon Danny Duncan, and hopefully walk away with a free “Virginity Rocks” tee shirt.

Those who showed up, some as early as 5:30 AM, in the dark, were mostly from Roseburg, but some traveled a great distance. Chris Duncan (no relation) 19 years old, drove all the way from Seattle Washington, with his buddies Conner Tomseth, and Kanton Hale, who lives in Washington but grew up in Roseburg.

The atmosphere was festive, reminiscent of waiting for your favorite rock band to take the stage, as the crowd anticipated catching Duncan live, in the flesh.

When Duncan’s black on black Mercedes Benz Sprinter pulled in around 6:50 AM the crowd pressed in close, and as the door rolled open there was Fletch, honorary member of the Duncan Crew, greeting his fellow RHS classmates. What followed was Duncan throwing shirts to the crowd gathered from a high lift supplied by Hooper. There was the predictable scramble, as kids dove to catch the flying shirts. Duncan said his crew packed 500 shirts, which were all given out in a matter of less than 15 minutes, which was none too soon because many had to make it to RHS and other schools for morning class.

A group of young girls clearly disappointed that they didn’t score a shirt, even though they were the very first ones to arrive, told Duncan, and he took their name and address and promise to ship them some.

Other side shows that morning included “Old Man Haircuts” given by Duncan himself, and a few rounds of little people boxing, both regular features of the Duncan Road Shows.

When asked about the slogan that he has made so popular, “Virginity Rocks”, Duncan was forthcoming.

He said that while it was conceived and put out there in good fun, “I have never made fun of virginity; I think it is a very good thing.”

To wrap up the day, after leaving Good Vibrations, the Duncan Crew headed out to Fletch’s place to bake cookies with Grandma Linda. Her account of the cookie bake: “After a few emails and a phone call with Danny prior to the Friday visit, I was actually looking forward to meeting him. Fletcher texted me after the t-shirt give away and said they were all headed to our house and that Danny wanted to bake chocolate chips cookies with me. I couldn’t resist the chance first to meet them and of course my favorite thing… to BAKE. After the introductions of his entourage we tied on our aprons, I fired up my oven as well as my questions for them all. We talked about his start on YouTube, how he picks his things to merchandise and about them and their families. Even as exhausted as they were, Danny scooped out cookie dough and frosted cupcakes as Alex, the video guy, captured it all for future YouTube videos. Whatever his persona is on all the many social media platforms he’s on, Danny Duncan, and his crew, are welcome back in my home anytime”.

Duncan said of his Roseburg visit, “I felt like Fletch supported us, I wanted to come and show my support for him” while helping other students express themselves in the spirit of free speech. And in this case the free speech was literally free in the form of hundreds of free shirts. Duncan told the Beacon he plans to come back to Roseburg again, soon he hopes.