Jews hate Kanye: In AI video, Jewish celebrities from Scarlett Johansson to Adam Sandler give Kanye the middle finger
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[There is a link to the video on Instagram at the source url at the bottom. Jan]
A video released on social media on Tuesday shows a wide array of Jewish celebrities, including Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen, wearing a T-shirt with a raised middle finger and the word “Kanye” — a rejection of the rapper Kanye West’s antisemitism.
The video resembles any number of PSAs created by Jewish advocates, with one catch: None of the celebrities consented to participating.
That’s because the video was made with generative AI, an emerging technology that instantly creates lifelike animation, opening new frontiers for creativity while also raising ethical questions about what can be rendered and how such products should be labeled.
Released on Instagram by Ori Bejerano, an Israeli generative AI entrepreneur, the video spread rapidly on Tuesday, riding a wave of anger at West and frustration over his persistence as a presence in the public sphere despite a years-long record of antisemitism. Over the last week, West posted a string of antisemitic tweets, then paid for a Super Bowl ad directing viewers to a website that sold just one product: a $20 T-shirt with a swastika on it.
Over a techno version of “Hava Nagila,” about two dozen celebrities appear in the video. Each wears a shirt — perfectly form-fitting, thanks to AI — that echoes the swastika design in its simplicity, except it shows a raised middle finger with a Star of David inside it, above the word “KANYE.” Then the celebrities fade out and text appears: “Enough is Enough. Join the Fight Against Antisemitism.”
Bejerano’s caption, written in Hebrew, lists reasons why West’s antics are offensive and calls for social networks to stop amplifying antisemitism and allowing people like West to “spread their poison.” (After his antisemitic X spree, West thanked owner Elon Musk for “allowing me to vent.”)
The post does not endorse any specific organization’s efforts to fight antisemitism, though it tags the accounts of several pro-Israel influencers and organizations, including StandWithUs, Noa Tishby and the Combat Antisemitism Movement. It also does not label the video as AI-generated, though Bejerano’s Instagram handle is “oribejerano_ai.”
Some of the celebrities, such as David Schwimmer, have been vocal in opposing antisemitism. Others, including Adam Sandler, who ends the video by offering his own obscene gesture, have not been outspoken on the issue since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel unleashed a wave of antisemitism around the world.
At least one celebrity shown in the video, Scarlett Johansson, has previously sued to block the use of her AI-generated likeness.
There were signs that at least some of the celebrities spoofed in the video might be on board with it. Jessica Seinfeld, the cookbook author and wife of Jerry Seinfeld, who is shown pointing to his shirt and smiling, liked the video on Instagram.
Also included in the video: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, the 1960s-era singer-songwriter duo, together again for the first time in more than a decade; the rapper Drake, who this week stood at the center of a different Super Bowl controversy; and Sam Altman, the AI entrepreneur who is currently tangling with Musk.
Bejerano’s numerous previous AI videos have poked fun at Israel’s far-right ministers and offered up an Israeli version of “The Simpsons.” And a different Israeli AI entrepreneur recently used the technology to imagine peace in the Middle East.
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