Who says Americans don’t care about the homeless anymore?

To the contrary, this astonishing WSJ story suggests the homeless are much on our minds — as pop culture entertainment!

The main focus of the piece is a possibly schizophrenic homeless man in Los Angeles who has been adopted by three young brand-makers as the iconic centerpiece of their new line, named “The Crazy Robertson” in his honor. Featuring “stylized images” of the man, the includes a $98 hoodie “that has a graphic of him dancing and the phrase ‘No Money, No Problems’ on the back.” Available at Kitson.

Adds the WSJ:

The repackaging of [this homeless guy] as a fashion front man comes at a time of increased fascination with homelessness. The producers of “Bumfights” — a collection of videotaped street battles between vagrants — claim to have sold more than 300,000 DVDs since 2002, and a British TV series called “Filthy Rich and Homeless” made headlines this year for its depiction of real-life millionaires posing as London beggars.

Across the U.S., a growing number of homeless people have gained attention through the Internet. More than 17,500 videos on YouTube are tagged with the word “homeless.” Leslie Cochran, a street resident in Austin, Texas, who has twice run for mayor, has 10,775 “friends” on his MySpace page. In Boston, the profile of Harold Madison Jr. — a homeless man better known as “Mr. Butch” — rose through online clips and a Web site made in his honor.

Perhaps in an effort to be down with the trend, the WSJ includes links to video clips of the Crazy Robertson’s icon skating and dancing. Sadly I’m on deadline so I haven’t checked them out. Maybe The Medium will delve into this (or maybe already has).