Megan Stallion Deep Fake AI
Megan Thee Stallion performs during the Boston Calling Music Festival on May 26, 2024.Taylor Hill / Getty Images for Boston Calling
Today, I want to share a story that's both disturbing and important. Megan Thee Stallion, a well-known rapper, recently spoke out after being targeted with a sexually explicit deepfake video that started circulating on X over the weekend. This appears to be an ongoing trend, just a few months ago there was a deep fake floating around about rapper Drake.
“It’s really sick how yall go out of the way to hurt me when you see me winning,” Megan Thee Stallion posted on X on Saturday.
Megan Stallion tweet on deep fake
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For those who might not know, Megan Thee Stallion's real name is Megan Pete. She was addressing a fake video that was making the rounds online. She made it clear that the video was “fake,” and added, “Just know today was your last day playing with me and I mean it.”
Now, let's talk about deepfakes. These are digital media manipulated using artificial intelligence or other visual and audio tools. The most notorious examples involve “face-swapping” individuals, mostly women and girls, into pornographic or sexually suggestive content. Public and private figures alike have been targeted, and the creators of these deepfakes often profit by selling the material online.
NBC News found 18 posts on X containing the fake video of Megan Thee Stallion, including one that compared it to the original video used to create the deepfake. Six of these posts had more than 30,000 views each. By Monday afternoon, after NBC News asked for comments, it seemed some of these posts had been removed from the platform.
A spokesperson for X stated that the platform's "rules prohibit the sharing of non-consensual intimate media and we are proactively removing this content."
This isn't the first time the Elon Musk-owned platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been used to spread AI-generated deepfakes of celebrity women. Taylor Swift, for example, had a series of fake nude and sexually suggestive images go viral. The New York Times reported that one post was viewed 47 million times before it was taken down. In response, the platform paused the ability to search Swift’s name for three days.
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Other celebrities, especially those without Swift’s fame, have struggled to get sexually explicit deepfakes removed. Marvel star Xochitl Gomez, who was only 17 at the time, said her team couldn’t get the material taken down. Later, X removed some deepfakes of Gomez after NBC News reached out. Many TikTok stars have also been targeted with sexually explicit deepfakes on X.
Megan Thee Stallion, whose Hot Girl Summer Tour sold out arenas across the U.S., has been a frequent target of online harassment since she was shot in the foot by rapper Tory Lanez in 2020. Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2023. Over the weekend, one of the same hip-hop news commentators who cast doubt on the shooting incident said during a livestream that Megan “drew attention” to the sexually explicit deepfake of her.
Previously, a legal representative for Megan Thee Stallion mentioned they were “exploring all legal options” related to misinformation spread about her by bloggers.
Stay vigilant, warriors, and always support those targeted by such malicious acts. Let’s keep the conversation going and continue to spread kindness and positivity. If you have any thoughts or want to discuss this further, leave a comment below.
Stay strong and kind,
