Have you heard the online craze about Alex from Target? He鈥檚 real -- and he's from North Texas. He鈥檚 had a wild November.
Let鈥檚 recap the main events.
Alex Lee was just a normal suburban teenager, working a side job at a Target in Frisco, ringing up groceries and clothes. Life for the Frisco 16-year-old changed Nov. 2 when this photo was shared on social media.
People went crazy. Girls started to approach his register, taking pictures. The hashtag #alexfromtarget emerged -- and it started to trend on Twitter.
Alex sent out a tweet:
On Nov. 3, Target sent out this tweet:
We heart Alex, too!
— Target (@Target)
On Nov. 4, Target released a statement:
We value Alex as a team member and from the first moment we saw this photo beginning to circulate, we聽shared that the Target team was as surprised as anyone. 聽That remains the truth today. 聽Let us be completely聽clear, we had absolutely nothing to do with the creation, listing or distribution of the photo.
Alex flew to Los Angeles to appear on Ellen DeGeneres' TV show:
Earlier this week, Alex appeared on CNBC to talk about the power of social media:
"It's definitely changed a lot," "It's pretty overwhelming, actually."
Alex wants to do something positive with all of the publicity.
"We're just constantly talking about how we can influence other people in a positive way and just, I guess, make things better for other people of my generation," he told CNBC.
As of Thursday, Alex had more than 700,000 Twitter followers.
Life is great right now! Alex followed me!!!!! THANK YOU!!
— morg (@morgggronkowski)
On Thursday, Alex was featured in The New York Times:
that Alex's parents describe him as a 鈥渟weet kid.鈥�
鈥淗e鈥檚 shy and exceedingly polite,鈥� Bilton wrote. 鈥淗e often chuckles to himself after speaking.鈥�
There is a downside to the fame.
Alex told The Times he doesn鈥檛 go out in public. There have been death threats on social media.
People have leaked the family鈥檚 personal information online, including Social Security numbers, bank accounts and phone records. The family, worried for the safety of Alex and his five siblings, has been in contact with the local police. Alex鈥檚 parents have met with his school鈥檚 principal and security officers, as well as Target managers, to put together security plans in case of an emergency.
Alex is still working at Target, although he鈥檚 not working as a cashier -- at least for now. Instead, The Times says, he鈥檚 back in the stockroom.
