If you asked yourself “What’s the worst that could happen?” when Elon Musk bought Twitter, there are plenty of examples. But here’s the latest example of how the platform known as X has become an unmitigated disaster.
At a time when deepfakes are getting good enough to fool some people (at least initially), it’s not ideal to have a social media platform with no editorial oversight and a useless verification process that makes it impossible to tell who is legit.
X user @HeavensFX posted a video on Sunday night of Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz seemingly responding to some of his critics. It was reported at the beginning of this year that the Hawkeyes must score at least 25 points per game in the 2023 season or the son of the head coach will have his contract terminated on June 30, 2024.
👀Brian Ferentz responds to his critics pic.twitter.com/4WKwUTwwnh
— Heavens! (@HeavensFX) September 18, 2023
Coming into Saturday’s game, No. 24 Iowa had yet to score more than 24 points in a game this season. Then, the Hawkeyes eclipsed that mark with a 41-10 win over Western Michigan.
It would be reasonable to assume that Ferentz might want to respond to some of the rampant criticism he’s taken over the years.
“You all have had fun with this 25-point obsession and I get it. I do,” the deepfake Ferentz says in the clip. “But if I’m not mistaken, we just dropped 41 on Saturday, so maybe it’s time to grab ahold of your little stepladders and go ahead and climb out of my *** for a while.”
What isn’t reasonable to assume is that so many people, including OutKick, would fall for this deepfake.
The site founded by Clay Travis has since amended its original piece, titled Brian Ferentz Attacks His Critics With Blunt Remark: VIDEO with a new title, Fake Story on Brian Ferentz Dupes Many, Including OutKick. While the headline has been changed the original title shows up on Google News.
To be fair to OutKick, several others have been duped by the Ferentz deepfake, including Mike Golic Jr.
I am sad to report I got got by the Brian Ferentz deep fake. I am now officially old.
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) September 18, 2023
Outkick and Golic have since at least admitted their mistake. As for others, well not so much…
Wow you put up 41 on a MAC team. Way to go tough guy. Give me a break. Hopefully local media continues to call out the nepotism when the offense goes back to scoring sub-20 https://t.co/8DfJSC4m8q
— 𝚂𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗 (@Spencito_) September 18, 2023
Renew the man’s contract strictly based on this quote 😂😂🔥🔥 https://t.co/108HwZO56r
— Dane Belbeck (@ZDane7) September 18, 2023
To western Michigan. Do it against Penn state then I’ll get my ladder out https://t.co/IvIba293md
— Tk (@Tkfollowme) September 18, 2023
I feel like he is talking directly at me, but fear not Brian. For I will not stop https://t.co/UhnYIDt8W1
— Caleb Kaufmann (@CKaufmann_) September 18, 2023
We’ll see how this bum does next week against a real team https://t.co/R18I8k6RGl
— Dustin (@Dustinlevi11) September 18, 2023
This can’t be real … this is REAL?!! @ToddBrommelkamp … I’ve never seen an Iowa football coach do this. This is Fran level https://t.co/LbmlApLbYp
— Matt Perrault (@sportstalkmatt) September 18, 2023
Ok. Don’t drop no turd this Saturday, tho. Cause they gone be on yo top. Go Hawks https://t.co/7fkwSTQhtM
— Will Ross (@willross319) September 18, 2023
While this is objectively hilarious, we should also acknowledge that this sets a dangerous precedent. And based on replies to the original tweet, this isn’t the first time X user @HeavensFX has duped others with a deepfake video. There’s another one of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney currently floating around the internet.
This has real “I feel bad for our country, but this is tremendous content” energy.
[OutKick]
