Intentionally Misleading DeepFakes & Keanu Reeves
On 2019–07–13 a group of talented VFX artists named Corridor Crew posted a DeepFake video of Keanu Reeves without any labeling that it’s fake. It seems Keanu’s identity and brand is being taken advantage of without his consent, and the audience is intentionally being mislead. The only minor mention of the ruse is in the description “This video was created using Deepfake technology”. That does not at all clarify that Keanu Reeves took no part in this production.
Previously, the Corridor Crew created a video titled “We Made The Best Deepfake on The Internet”, clearly explaining it only featured an impersonator of Tom Cruise. This new video titled “Keanu Reeves Stops A ROBBERY!” is clearly staged, but almost every piece of content that Keanu is involved in is staged. It’s easy for a viewer and youtube searcher to assume that Keanu was actually part of this video’s production.
Wait, That’s Illegal
In the 1980s Ford created a series of commercials with a singer that was directed to mimic Bette Midler’s voice. The court eventually ruled the voice of someone famous as a singer is a part of their identity, and that it’s unlawful to imitate their voice without express consent and approval. The decision awarded Bette Midler $400,000.
That’s just for a voice impersonator. What’s the cost for an actual appearance of Keanu Reeves in your video? For the Matrix series, Keanu took a total of $260 million for about 7 hours of running time (~420 minutes) which amounts to $620,000 per minute of running time. The YouTube video being 3.5 minutes long adds all that up to…
The Corridor Crew owe Keanu $2,100,000 for this video
I assume the Corridor Crew are hoping Keanu is so nice that he wouldn’t litigate them. To me personally it’s clear his brand is being taken advantage of in a way that he should either consent to or be compensated for. If this type of celebrity exploitation would be freely allowed — these celebrities would lose control over their brand and dramatically reduce their ability to build and monetize it. Worse off stars means worse movies, and that’s a price I’m not willing to pay.
Whether or not Corridor Crew change the title of this video to fairly disclose its nature is up to them, for now. They’re probably in violation of YouTube’s guidelines for deceptive content as well, aside from the low moral and legal ground. DeepFakes have yet to reach the US courts. What will the courts rule in this case? We’re about to find out…
