Celebrities Protest Kanye West in Fake AI Video; Scarlett Johansson Makes Statement – Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterCelebrities — including David Schwimmer, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler and Sacha Baron Cohen — are depicted giving Kanye the finger, while the real Johansson pushes back against the viral deepfake.
By
James Hibberd
Writer-at-Large
Top Hollywood stars have banded together to protest Kanye West‘s antisemitism — sort of.
A viral video (below) depicts Jewish celebrities such as David Schwimmer, Steven Spielberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Scarlett Johansson, Sacha Baron Cohen and others wearing an anti-Kanye T-shirt.
Except this protest video was generated using AI without permission from the celebrities to use their likenesses. And now one of the celebrities portrayed is speaking out about the stunt.
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The video follows West’s unhinged antisemitic comments on social media and selling a white T-shirt on his website that was branded with a swastika, following a bait-and-switch Super Bowl ad. The video concludes with the words “Enough is Enough” and “Join the Fight Against Antisemitism.”
In a statement to People, Johansson objected to deepfake video, regardless of its intentions: “It has been brought to my attention by family members and friends, that an A.I.-generated video featuring my likeness, in response to an antisemitic view, has been circulating online and gaining traction. I am a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind. But I also firmly believe that the potential for hate speech multiplied by A.I. is a far greater threat than any one person who takes accountability for it. We must call out the misuse of A.I., no matter its messaging, or we risk losing a hold on reality.”
The ad’s creator is reportedly Guy Bar, the Israeli founder of an AI tech hub called Elevaitor. Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Bar said he was able to create the video in about 24 hours.
“We expected the video to gain traction, but we didn’t anticipate just how massive it would become,” he said. “We believe its impact comes from the fact that it touches a raw nerve for so many people worldwide – people who are tired of violence, exhausted by racism, and fed up with antisemitism … All the public figures featured in the video are Jewish. But beyond that, they are part of Kanye West’s own social and cultural environment – part of his world. We wanted to use their voices, so to speak, to tell Kanye West: your antisemitism and incitement to violence have crossed every possible line. Enough is enough.”
Some of the actors in the video have protested West’s actions in real life.
Actress Isla Fisher is rendered in the video and previously wrote on Instagram about the T-shirt sales: “Hey friends, can you please unfollow Kanye? Did you know this is the only thing for sale on his website after placing a Super Bowl commercial? F–k this monster forever. No Tolerance for this s–t.”
While Schwimmer took to Instagram to call on X boss Elon Musk to remove the rapper’s account: “We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled, ignorant bile…but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk. Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”
On Sunday night, Yeezy bought Super Bowl ad time in some local markets. The bizarre commercial showed West in his dentist’s chair showing off his diamond-encrusted teeth. “I spent like all the money for the commercial on these new teeth,” he said. “Once again I had to shoot it on the iPhone. Um, go to Yeezy.com.”
But the website only offered one item: A $20 white T-shirt with a black swastika. During West’s subsequent tweet spree, the rapper also declared that he loved Hitler and called himself a Nazi.
On Tuesday, West’s X account was finally deactivated as he wrote: “I’m logging out of Twitter (now X). I appreciate Elon for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board.”
Later that day, Shopify shut down West’s brand’s ecommerce website, telling The Hollywood Reporter in a statement about the removal that Yeezy.com violated policy. “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify,” the spokesperson said.
The Anti-Defamation League also issued a statement about West’s tweets. “As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website — a T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika,” the ADL said. “The swastika is the symbol adopted by Hitler as the primary emblem of the Nazis. It galvanized his followers in the 20th century and continues to threaten and instill fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy. If that wasn’t enough, the T-shirt is labeled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01,’ which is code for ‘Heil Hitler.’ Kanye was tweeting vile antisemitism nonstop since last week. There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior. Even worse, Kanye advertised his website during the Super Bowl, amplifying it beyond his already massive social media audience.”
Feb. 12, 12:54 p.m. Updated with Guy Bar’s quotes.Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every daySign up for THR news straight to your inbox every daySubscribe for full access to The Hollywood ReporterSend us a tip using our anonymous form.
