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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke February 13, 2025

AI-generated video of celebrities in anti-Kanye shirts spreads online

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  • This video was created using artificial intelligence. The celebrities featured didn’t actually appear in it. 

See the sources for this fact-check

A Super Bowl commercial from Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, directed people to his online store, which was selling only one item: a T-shirt with a swastika. 

The stunt drew condemnation, but a video purportedly showing celebrities donning shirts criticizing Ye in response wasn’t authentic. 

The video showed celebrities including actor Scarlett Johansson, comedian Jerry Seinfeld and director Steven Spielberg wearing white T-shirts, each with a graphic that showed a Star of David encapsulated by a single-line graphic of a hand with its middle finger raised and the word "Kanye" underneath. 

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"Hava Nagila," a Jewish folk song traditionally played at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, played throughout the video, which ended with text appearing on the screen: "Enough is enough." 

Social media posts sharing the video were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

(Screengrab from Facebook)
 
Johansson has said she didn’t appear in the video. Rather, she said in a statement to People magazine, it’s an "A.I.-generated video featuring my likeness."
 
"I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind," Johansson said in the statement. "But I also firmly believe that the potential for hate speech multiplied by AI is a far greater threat than any one person who takes accountability for it. We must call out the misuse of AI, no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality."
 
Although the video’s resemblance between the artificial intelligence-generated celebrities and their real-life counterparts was convincing, there were clues that this footage wasn’t authentic. 
 
One of Spielberg’s fingers appeared to briefly separate, for example. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported Feb. 12 that Israeli Guy Bar, founder of "AI tech hub Elevaitor," collaborated with another AI expert to create the video using technology, not real people.
 
"It was expertly created by an Israeli team of generative AI entrepreneurs," the Post said of the video. 
 
We rate claims this is an authentic video with real footage of these celebrities False.

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Our Sources

Facebook post, Feb. 11, 2025

Instagram post, Feb. 11, 2025

The New York Times, Ye’s Website Selling T-Shirts With Swastikas Is Taken Down, Feb. 11, 2025

The Hollywood Reporter, Celebrities Protest Kanye West in Fake AI Video; Scarlett Johansson Makes Statement, Feb. 12, 2025

People, Scarlett Johansson Urges Government to Limit A.I. After Faked Video of Her Opposing Kanye West Goes Viral, Feb. 12, 2025

The Jerusalem Post, The Israeli behind the AI video that has everyone talking about Kanye’s antisemitism - interview, Feb. 12, 2025

 

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