Prison ‘Thriller’ and other Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007

A video of prison inmates in Cebu, Philippines dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is No. 5 in Time Magazine‘s Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007.

Other top viral videos include that of an American gay teen passionately defending Britney Spears (#1), a Will Ferrell comedy clip (#2), Miss South Carolina’s boo-boo during the Miss Teen USA pageant (#3), a Saturday Night Live musical satire of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (#6), and CBS newscaster Dan Rather obsessing over how to dress for a rooftop broadcast (#8).

The complete list here.

Highlights of the Top 10 Viral Videos after the jump.

#5. Prison Inmates’ “Thriller” Video

Orange-jumpsuited accused murderers, rapists and drug dealers paid homage to Michael Jackson’s Thriller in a dance performance filmed at the Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines.

#1: Leave Britney Alone!

A histrionic gay, Southern teen calling himself Chris Crocker sobbed and shrieked in a raw, impassioned defense of a fallen pop princess.

#3: Miss South Carolina Teen USA

During the Miss Teen USA pageant’s Q & A segment, the contestant from South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton, was asked why Americans are unable to locate the U.S. on a map. Her stupid/funny/whatever-you-describe-it reply:

I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as uh, South Africa, and uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as. And I believe that they should, uh, our education over here! In the U.S. should help the U.S., or, should help South Africa, it should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future, for our children.

#6. I Ran So Far

Saturday Night Live‘s Andy Samberg croons at the piano while castmate Fred Armisen dons the Iranian president’s trademark beard and gray suit and the two men dance and romance, debunking Ahmadinejad’s claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran.