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Rapper exhorts FCC to OK deal

ATLANTA — And now this — the lobbying that surrounds the AT&T-BellSouth deal has reached YouTube.

The source of this latest, weirdest bit of advocacy is a 26-year-old Internet marketing consultant from Hallandale, Fla. He favors the deal because he has friends who work at BellSouth.

Shmuel Tennenhaus, a newbie to the world of do-it-yourself video, decided to weigh in on the deal, which is currently being held up by the Federal Communications Commission. His message to the FCC appears on YouTube in the form of a decidedly amateurish rap that calls the deal "merger-licious."

"This matter is auspicious," he says. "ATT has good wishes. FCC, don't be vicious."

It gets weirder. Tennenhaus dabs his face with a bit of Wite-Out, for example.

"The idea was I don't have any props, like they have in a music video," he said in an interview. He therefore used his office supplies.

Tennenhaus, who assembled his message to the FCC on Wednesday morning, has enjoyed a bit of YouTube success previously, including a recent commentary on Iraq that was picked up by ABC News Now.

Video, Tennenhaus said, is where it's at, and YouTube has become a venue for posting just about anything. "I blog, also, and nobody likes to read anymore," he said.

Besides, how often do you get to declare BellSouth "hot," as Tennenhaus does?

"They're somewhat hot," he said. "Not Paris Hilton hot."

To watch, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lEhg9vfhQY

Scott Leith writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.