After facing widespread accusations of using artificial intelligence to fabricate enthusiastic concert crowds in promotional videos for his rap comeback tour, Will Smith responded by embracing the controversy with a humorous twist. The Hollywood star and rapper posted a deliberately outlandish video replacing human heads in his audience with cat heads, effectively acknowledging the allegations while simultaneously mocking his critics.
When faced with AI fakery allegations, Smith’s clever cat-headed audience video turned controversy into comedy.
The original controversy erupted when Smith’s team shared promotional footage for his “Based On A True Story” UK tour, his first album release in two decades. Sharp-eyed viewers quickly noted suspicious visual anomalies in the crowd scenes, including uniformly moving audience members, distorted facial features, and impossibly shaped body parts.
Further scrutiny revealed AI-generated signs with misspelled messages and repetitive visual patterns throughout the crowd, leading to widespread ridicule online. Social media commentators described the purported AI crowd as a “humiliation fetish” and “tragic” for an entertainer of Smith’s caliber.
While Smith’s representatives maintained public silence as allegations mounted, the controversial videos remained accessible on his official YouTube and Instagram accounts, fueling further speculation about their authenticity. Artists concerned about protecting their image and content should ensure their works are registered with performance rights organizations to maintain control over how their music is used publicly. This type of AI manipulation reflects broader industry concerns, as studies show 20% income loss for music workers due to artificial intelligence in the coming years. This scandal comes at a particularly challenging time as Smith continues to navigate the fallout from the 2022 Oscars slap incident. Artists facing similar PR challenges might consider exploring sync deals as an alternative revenue stream less dependent on public appearances. Investigations later suggested that while the concerts themselves featured real attendees, post-production AI enhancements had been applied to the footage, creating the uncanny visual effects that triggered suspicion.
One particularly scrutinized element—a couple holding a cancer-survival sign—was subsequently verified as genuine despite initial skepticism. Smith’s cat-head video response, shared across major platforms on June 18, effectively transformed the negative publicity into a surreal artistic statement.
