CULLMAN, Ala. – His curly blonde locks are a whole lot country, a little bit rock and roll and have landed him in the finals of the USA Mullet Championship. Fairview Elementary second-grader Ezra Cramer needs your vote in order to bring the title back to Cullman County.
Ezra has naturally curly blonde hair and prior to the mullet cut, he liked wearing it long. During the COVID shutdown, his mom Kaleigha explained, “I didn’t know this was a thing they were doing until after we cut his hair. My husband Eric loves old country music and they both love it. They were watching country music videos and he saw the hair like that and thought it was really cool.”
Ezra said he was first inspired by Joe Diffie and said, “When I saw some pictures of him, I was like, I really wanted it.” Ezra’s parents contemplated the haircut and were hesitant. Kaleigha said, “Mullets kind of have a weird rep but then I told Eric one day, ‘You know, it’s just hair.’”
All of Ezra’s favorite music stars rocked the mullet at some point. Among his favorites are Joe Diffie, Billy Ray Cyrus, Morgan Wallen, Alan Jackson and Blake Shelton. He also likes some of the classic mullet-wearing rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and the members of KISS.
The family looked at photos on the internet and when Ezra saw one with shaved striped on the side, that was the one he wanted. “We took him to town and let him get the one he wanted,” Kaleigha added.
After getting his haircut, Kaleigha reached out to her best friend Amber Black to do a photoshoot of him rocking his new style. The “Joe Dirt” inspired photos were posted on social media and the photos went viral. “Once they went viral, several people started commenting to us, ‘Hey, you need to enter him into this mullet competition.’ I had never heard about it before.”
This year, the USA Mullet Championship competition added a kids’ division and after discussing it with Ezra and her husband Eric, they decided to give it a try. She recalled, “Eric and I were a little apprehensive because although he had a lot of good comments on the photos Amber shared, some were not very nice. I was kind of worried.”
Seven-year-old Ezra had been the target of some bullying because of his hair and together, the family thought entering the contest could give him a great platform to “Shake the Hate.” With his platform encouraging others to be kind, he quickly soared through the first round of voting, making it to the top 500.
Ezra then survived round two and was among the top 100 in the competition. He is now in the national final in the top 25. The voting is all online and voting takes place now through October 11. You can vote once a day, every day, per email. If you have six email addresses, you can vote six times a day.
Ezra is the only representative in his division from the state of Alabama. If Ezra wins the championship, he will win a trophy, a Pit Viper prize pack and $2500. He has some plans if he wins. He said, “I want a Nerf Gun and three Nintendo games.” He also hopes to host a party for all his friends.
To vote for Ezra Cramer, visit https://mulletchamp.com/2021-kids-division-voting/.
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