Blonde Jesus

By Kristian Trey Kodman

“It was a very radical thing for me to do, for anyone in my high school to do, which was really strange.”

Jacob Beeson had lived his entire childhood with a buzzcut until his senior year at Manzama High School in Klamath Falls, Oregon. He now lives with a nickname from this decision of no longer cutting his hair.

“I had teachers I knew really well, who started to call me Blonde Jesus just as like a joke,” Beeson said. He was starting to remember the power he had in his hair as he told his story in costume. Everyone in this classroom interview, including myself, at the University of Oregon’s Allen Hall, was about to learn of the experience of imitating one of the most well-known religious figures in human history.

According to Beeson, the evolution of his adopting the Jesus character originated as a samurai costume. His growing hair, in its early stages, started as a man-bun. During that time, with a suggestion from his high school buddy, he donned a red bathrobe and a samurai sword. This became a photograph posted onto Beeson’s Facebook page.

That same friend and sword happened to be in another situation, Beeson explained, their freshman year at college where they were plotting on costumes for a party. Beeson decided to search for an outfit to match the sword again. But upon seeing a Jesus robe at the Spirit Halloween costume store in Springfield, Beeson was reminded of the nickname he was given in high school.

“Oh my God, this would be hilarious,” he said to himself upon finding the robe.

It only took an Oregon Ducks football game against Utah University that next weekend for him to start owning the persona of Blonde Jesus.

“I was like, if I wore this to the game, that’d be really funny. And it’d be really easy for my family to find me on TV because they always like want to see where I’m at on TV. So I did that, and people really loved it at the game,” Beeson said. “Maybe this might be a thing. And so I just continued to do it ever since.”

During the interview, a student from the classroom asked, “I feel like that’s a bold thing to do. How did you feel confident in going to the game? Did you even think about it?”

“Being an introvert, it was like super scary having all these people notice me. It was something I thought about, but then I decided to give it a shot and do,” Beeson answered. “It was the beginning of my freshman year, and I didn’t have a lot of friends at that point. So it was kind of like trying to find a way into the group.”

The same student asks, “Did you make friends?”

“Not particularly. A lot of people knew me, and I didn’t know them. So that’s kind of how that went,” Beeson answered.

Another student in the classroom asked, “You said that you get uncomfortable because people know you. But you also talked about how you came from a town where everyone knows everyone. How does that change your view on that perspective? How is that affected?”

“I think with this, it’s more impersonal. It’s more of a face-value thing. They know what I am,” Beeson explained. “But they don’t know me when I take the costume off. And that was something in Klamath where people knew your personality, you had a lot of time to develop that, and you saw them more often. So it wasn’t as weird. This is more of a familiarity thing.”

Beeson continues explaining that he is a Christian and that, ironically, this has nothing to do with promoting his religion. “I see them as separate things because of the way I behave during the game. Sometimes I think it can be seen as being sacrilegious, but I don’t see it that way. I like to think God has a sense of humor,” he said.

Of the more memorable moments Beeson has had while dressed up as Jesus, he said, “My freshman year, I took a picture with Bill Walton after a basketball game. He thought I was dressed as Moses. That was pretty good.”

“Interactions with the cheerleaders have been really fun as well,” Beeson said. “At the Civil War, they had doughnuts that they would shoot into the student section, and I was begging them to give me one. So they snuck one over to me.”

His expectations when in costume are more defined now. He said, “There’s a very good chance I will be on the jumbotron, or a camera will be on me.” Beeson continued, “Freshman year, I wasn’t expecting people to interact with me.”

On the subject of turning water into wine, Beeson said, “If you go on if you go on my Blonde Jesus Instagram page, I actually do it on my 21st birthday with a little help from iMovie.”

Beeson shared that his parents were surprised that he kept wearing it into his sophomore year.” They’ve asked me if I’ve ever wanted to stop or if anyone doesn’t like it.”

“For one of the sermons in my church back home, my pastor actually used me as an example and really loves that I do it. And so that was kind of my reason like no, it’s great. So yeah, they have found it humorous ever since,” Beeson said of his parent’s reassurance on his decision of being one of the University of Oregon’s sports event sideshows.

Content created by Beeson for his Cinema Studies classes can be found at his YouTube page titled Jacob Beeson, and his Instagram account is @uoblonde_jesus. He also has a show called “Spam” premiering soon on the Oregon Duck TV YouTube account.