Megan Thee Stallion denounces ‘fake’ sexually explicit video circulating on X

Rapper Megan Thee Stallion is the latest female celebrity to speak out after being the target of a sexually explicit deepfake video that circulated on X over the weekend.

“It’s really sick how y’all go out of their way to hurt me when you see me win,” Megan Thee Stallion posted on X on Saturday.

The artist, whose real name is Megan Pete, appeared to allude to the video circulating online, writing that it was “fake” and adding: “Just know that today was your last day playing with me and I mean that.”

Deepfakes are digital media created or altered using artificial intelligence or other visual or audio manipulation tools. Some of the most well-known examples are people, predominantly women and girls, transforming their faces into pornographic or sexually explicit material. Both public and private figures are affected, and the creators of deepfakes can even profit from selling the material online.

A spokesperson for Roc Nation, which represents Megan Thee Stallion, declined to comment.

NBC News reviewed 18 posts on X that contained the fake video of Megan Thee Stallion, including one that contrasted it with the original video used to create the deepfake. Six of the posts had more than 30,000 views each.

After NBC News asked for comment, it emerged Monday afternoon that some of the posts had been removed from the platform.

A spokesperson for X said the platform’s “rules prohibit the sharing of non-consensual intimate media and we proactively remove this content.”

Elon Musk’s platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been used to spread AI-generated deepfakes of celebrity women before. This became most notorious when a series of fake nude and sexually explicit images of Taylor Swift went viral on the platform. The New York Times reported that one post was viewed 47 million times before it was removed. In response to the incident, the platform suspended searches for Swift’s name for three days.

Other celebrities not as famous as Swift have struggled to get the platform to remove sexually explicit deepfakes, including Marvel star Xochitl Gomez, who said her team was unable to remove the material even though she was only 17 at the time. X later removed some deepfakes of Gomez after NBC News contacted her. Several TikTok stars have also faced sexually explicit deepfakes on X.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose Hot Girl Summer Tour sold out stadiums 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. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2023. One of the same hip-hop news commentators who raised doubts about the shooting during the trial said during a livestream over the weekend that she “brought attention to the rapper’s sexually explicit deepfake.”

A legal representative for Megan Thee Stallion had previously stated that they would “explore all legal options” to combat the misinformation spread by bloggers about her.