Alex Dougherty has said, "Social media saved me."
He's the oldest of 11 kids and part of one of the most popular families on the internet, known as the Dougherty Dozen by their 7.8 million TikTok followers.
Like many people, his mom, Alicia, joined TikTok during the COVID-19 pandemic. She began posting about their extra-large family in 2020, when Alex was 14.
The appeal is simple: Viewers want to see what raising so many children is like, from the everyday to the extraordinary challenges. Seven of the Dougherty kids are adopted, and six have been diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Over time, viewers have gotten to know each kid as they grow up.
The kids have also faced scrutiny. Alex, adopted out of foster care at age five after Alicia had experienced 11 miscarriages, faced cyberbullying in high school because of his mom's TikTok account.
And yet, Alex would never give it up. In fact, he wants to lead his family into a new online era.
How DJ Big Red got his name
Alicia Dougherty, 45, says Alex has always had an affinity for the limelight. She recalls when her mom, Alex's grandmother, caught him practicing his smile in a bathroom mirror. He was 4 years old. "She was like, 'What are you doing?' He's like, 'I just have to practice,'" Alicia says, laughing.
She says Alex convinced her to post on TikTok in the first place. "I didn't even know it was," she says. "I think I called it 'tick-tack.'"
Alicia's videos of preparing a pile of lunchboxes or asking each kid what their favorite song is quickly went viral.
"Honestly, I thought it was weird at first, you know, seeing just millions of people wanting to watch me and my mom dance, my mom make lunches for us," Alex says.
But he says there was no requirement to be on camera. If he or his siblings didn't want to, they didn't have to. "We have the right not to [participate]," he says. He felt responsible, too, as the big brother. He's the eldest and known as Big Red for his red hair and big personality. "If the siblings didn't want to do it, they didn't have to. They always have a choice," he says. "We can't force them into doing nothing that they don't want to do."
@doughertydozen Reply to @ericajohn52 What do you want to know next? #BigFamily #Birthday #RollCall
♬ original sound - Dougherty Dozen
At one point, he considered stepping back. In high school, cyberbullying from his mom's TikTok account had a big effect on him. "I was like, I might just quit. I might just stop, just not do it anymore," he says. "But, you know, my mom made me realize that these people are talking through a screen. They won't talk to you about it in person."
As an influencer, "You have to have a sense of humor," Alicia says. And behind closed doors, the Doughertys "constantly remind each other" to "focus on the positive, ignore the negative."
Big Red online – and IRL
The family now has a manager; with their influencer income, Alicia was able to stop working as a house cleaner in Pittsford, New York. When Alex brought up his love of music, they brainstormed a DJ tour, even though spinning turntables is fairly new to him.
Call it his spin on the influencer family business: going IRL. While he decided not to pursue college, his Day Made Tour is selling out venues on college campuses in cities from Columbus, Ohio, to Oxford, Mississippi. Many of his baying fans are his fans, not Dougherty Dozen fans.
"I really only have been DJing for, I would say, five, six months, but the love of music has been my whole entire life," he says.
Seeing her son's enthusiasm, Alicia says, "was like that light bulb moment of what he could do next in his career."
Still, Alex says he's a "content creator" first and foremost. "Social media can help you grow as a person, can help you grow into a person that you want to be," he says. "It showed me who I could actually be as a person. I could show my true colors, my true self on the internet. And not many people realize that this is who I actually am, you know?"
That combination runs through his set. On stage, donning a goatee and a backward hat, towering over his turntables and fans, he sings country songs and leans into the viral memes about him and his family. He projects his mom's TikToks on the big screen behind him and has a mini fridge on stage during his shows, a nod to the mini fridge in his old room that Dougherty Dozen fans reference all the time online.
"Everyone freaks out when they see it," Alex says. "It's just a thing that I'm known for that people see."
@big.brumb.5.south First show and playing at a sold out venue 🥹 @BIGRED‼️ @DJ BIG RED #bigred
♬ original sound - soceleb
His in-person appearances are also feeding a new batch of viral videos. One of Alex's main demographics is sorority girls. (His mom says it's because "he's cute" – but also because "they kind of grew up with him during those adolescent years when everyone was not really in a good place, you know, everyone was having pandemic life. But there was Alex every day with a smile, doing whatever, doing a dance.")
University of Georgia sophomores Molly Faulkner and Katelyn Brown met Alex when he visited their Alpha Phi sorority house to promote his event. They mostly know Alex from social media and his viral dance videos. He's got one move in particular, set to the song "E85" by Don Toliver, that's become his signature: He steps side to side along with the track, and finishes with a basketball shot.
"Katelyn’s been making videos to it all last summer," Faulkner says about the song.
"Yes, the 'E85' dance went platinum on my TikTok," Brown admits.
Faulkner adds: "I think he has a great personality. He's just like real and down to earth. And he just seems so appreciative of all the love, and was so complimentary to all of us, and so encouraging."
Alex danced outside the sorority house with the women, and one video got more than 1.4 million views on Instagram. Brown also went viral for a video she filmed of herself waving goodbye to Alex – it gained over 71,500 likes on TikTok. "Felt the aura as soon as he made it to Athens," her caption reads.
Many on social media are baffled by the turnouts so far to Alex's DJ sets and sorority visits. "Y'all would go to the opening of an envelope," reads one comment with over 70,000 likes on a TikTok video filmed by Kendall Patton, a freshman at the University of Georgia, at Alex's Sept. 9 set.
Patton says she doesn't consider herself a fan of Alex – she and her friends were just looking for something fun to do that night. But they still had a great time. "It was mainly just all of us listening to music, and he was there," she says with a laugh.
"Probably the part that got everybody the most energetic was when he made the video doing the dance in front of all of us," Patton says.
What's next for the Dougherty Dozen
Not all of Alex's siblings want to follow in his footsteps. Two of his siblings have faced scrutiny lately. James, 19, the second oldest, was recently arrested for public lewdness, and viral videos have mocked him for it. Alex addressed the situation during a livestream on July 31.
"Guys, I support James, okay guys? And I’m here for him and everything like that. So, end of discussion. He’s okay. He's fine," he said. Alicia has not commented directly, and the Ontario County Sheriff's Department told USA TODAY the case is closed, and the records are sealed.
His sister Zoe has faced cyberbullying, with a picture of her just standing turned into a sticker for hurtful commentary. Alicia admits that Zoe gets "heavily bullied online." She watches the comments closely and has taken her, among some of her other children, "completely out" of her content. "I'm protecting them," she says. "The trolls will gravitate to one kid … I block a lot of people."
@sugarsweetlikealadybug7 Not to much on my girl #doughertydozen #fyp
♬ WHO WROTE THAT - 𝒽𝒾𝓃𝒶𝒶𝒶ᥫ᭡
Alicia insists no pressure for them to follow her or Alex's lead as an influencer. "We just want our kids to follow the path that they feel destined to follow," she says. "You know, be their true, authentic self."
And the siblings remain close, even when Alex is on the road. "My brothers and sisters call me all the time," he says. "They always look up to me."
"They are just so excited for him anytime he's on live," Alicia says. "Like, they watch his lives, and I'm like, 'Guys, you're always with him, and now you're watching him also?' But yeah, they really admire how successful he's become."
At least two of his siblings want to go the solo influencer route. "I tell them, do as many videos with Mom as possible," Alex says. "She'll bring you to the right direction."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alex Dougherty grew up in TikTok's most viral family. Now he's going solo
