Deepfake video of actor Will Smith shared to claim he endorsed Donald Trump

What’s the claim?

A video shared online shows American actor Will Smith talking about politics, appearing to say that United States President Joe Biden has not done anything in the past four years, and endorsing Donald Trump for the upcoming U.S. presidential election. 

In the video, Will Smith can be heard saying, “One more thing I wanted to mention, since we are talking about politics. In 2020, Biden promised to free the Black community from oppression and social injustice. It's been four years and he hasn't done anything to fulfill that promise. Did you know that in 2023, police killed over 1,200 people? Last year was the deadliest year for homicides committed by law enforcement in more than a decade. Despite Biden being in full control, despite his promises, Black people keep suffering. Moreover, Biden has used George Floyd’s death as a means to grab power. Biden has received Black votes when he promised protection and a police reform. The reform he forgot about as soon as he took the oath and didn't bother remembering it for four years. You know what, I'm tired of false promises we're being fed by Democrats. That’s why I'm voting for Donald Trump this year. You can dislike him, you can hate his character, but at least he's honest and he puts his money where his mouth is.”

The video has been shared on X (formerly Twitter), getting over a million views, and archived versions of such posts can be found here, here, and here.

Screenshot of claims made online. (Source: X/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the video is a deepfake with fabricated audio.

How did we find out the truth? 

The viral clip shows noticeable inconsistencies in the lip-sync when Will Smith talks, especially when he says the word "politics" at 0:03 seconds in the viral video, which indicates the video has been manipulated. 

The video of Will Smith at the beginning of the viral clip is from a podcast series, "Class of '88," hosted by the actor. The series delves into the history and impact of hip-hop music, focusing specifically on the year 1988, and features interviews with key figures in hip-hop, exploring how the music and culture of that era have influenced the present.

The original video clip, about five minutes long, was shared on Will Smith's official YouTube (archived here) channel on February 28, 2024. It featured Smith and American rapper Chuck D. At the 0:22 mark, Smith's hand movements match those in the viral clip, and he is heard discussing two of the greatest hip-hop performances from 1988. However, he does not say anything about politics or Biden at any point in the video nor does he say anything included in the viral clip.

We contacted the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU), a specialized unit of the Misinformation Combat Alliance of which Logically Facts is a part, and it classified the video as fabricated with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here’s what they found:

Loccus.ai, a company specializing in AI voice safety solutions, found a 0.01 percent chance the audio is real, indicating it is almost entirely synthetic.

Screenshot of the analysis from Loccus.ai's audio detection tool. (Source: DAU)

The audio assessment of Hive AI breaks down the video into intervals spanning 20 seconds each, and in this case, it found A.I.-tampering in every segment.

The video was also put through the TrueMedia analysis deepfake detector which also presented substantial evidence of manipulation in the face and the audio. 

Screenshot of the analysis from TrueMedia, a deepfake detecting tool. (Source: DAU)

All this evidence suggests that the video is a deepfake.

The verdict

A video from an episode of the podcast Class of '88 featuring Will Smith has been manipulated using deepfake technology to make it seem like he was endorsing Trump and criticizing Biden. Multiple AI analysis tools indicate that the video is a deepfake. Therefore, we have marked this claim as fake.