Guy Bar and Ori Bejerano, two digital marketers based in Israel, typically use artificial intelligence to create commercial advertisements. But after Kanye West’s latest antisemitic stunt — a Super Bowl ad directing viewers to a website selling a single swastika T-shirt for $20 — they decided to use their AI skills to condemn West’s bigoted antics. Or rather, to make it look as if a bunch of celebrities were speaking out against him.
Bar and Bejerano told Yahoo News that they are behind a video that quickly went viral this week featuring AI-generated versions of various Jewish public figures, including Jerry Seinfeld, Scarlett Johansson, David Schwimmer, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bloomberg, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, among others.
In the video, to the tune of the Jewish folk song “Hava Nagila,” the celebrities are seen wearing white T-shirts with the word “Kanye” on them, above a hand giving the middle finger with a Star of David in the middle. It concludes with an AI-generated Adam Sandler flipping his finger at the camera.
The other AI-generated figures in the video are Drake, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sacha Baron Cohen, Lisa Kudrow, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Jack Black, Lenny Kravitz, Natalie Portman, Woody Allen, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Mila Kunis, Ben Stiller and Adam Levine.
“We deliberately chose a very understated video style — completely opposite to the aggressive and provocative way Kanye West expresses himself,” Bar told Yahoo News. “We wanted to use their voices, so to speak, to tell Kanye West: Your antisemitism and incitement to violence have crossed every possible line.”
But the video, which was created without the consent of the celebrities depicted, has had an unintended impact. Much of the conversation surrounding it has been focused on concerns about using AI to generate images of real people without their permission, rather than on the antisemitism it was meant to protest.
Johansson, who has previously spoken out against AI-generated videos featuring her likeness, said in a statement Wednesday that while she is "a Jewish woman who has no tolerance for antisemitism or hate speech of any kind," she considered the video a "misuse of AI."
"It has been brought to my attention by family members and friends that an AI-generated video featuring my likeness, in response to an antisemitic view, has been circulating online and gaining traction,” Johansson’s statement read. "I have unfortunately been a very public victim of AI, but the truth is that the threat of AI affects each and every one of us."
The actress also called on Congress to pass legislation that would protect people “against the imminent dangers of AI.”
As of reporting time, none of the other celebrities featured in the AI-generated video have commented on it publicly. Schwimmer recently spoke out against West's "sick hate speech" in an Instagram Story on Feb. 8, asking the owner of X, Elon Musk, to "stop giving [West] a megaphone." West, who has previously had his account suspended for antisemitic posts, later wrote a farewell post on X and shut down his account.
Bar said that he and Bejerano have not heard directly from any of the people depicted in the video. He said they have read Johansson’s statement and that they “deeply respected” her stance on AI and the broader conversation surrounding AI usage.
“That said, the video in question was not created for commercial purposes, but rather as an artistic and cultural statement aimed at confronting rising antisemitism,” Bar said. “Throughout history, art, satire and storytelling have played a crucial role in raising awareness about pressing social issues, and AI is simply the latest medium through which these conversations are taking shape.”
Some of the reactions to the video on Instagram echo Johansson’s discomfort with the use of AI.
"Not a fan of this at all," one commenter wrote. "As a Jew who absolutely hates Kanye, I still think this video fights evil with evil. While the message is important, using AI to put words in people's mouths is a dangerous path."
"Regardless of how much we want something to be true, sharing AI-generated videos as if they're real is dangerous," another user commented. "It undermines the real voices advocating for our community. … We have to be better than this."
Ultimately, Bar argued that the video is not about who is featured — it’s about calling for an end to antisemitic messaging and behavior.
“We believe that the individuals featured in the video will identify with it and with the powerful message it conveys,” he said. “It is vital that the urgency of the issue at hand — the normalization of antisemitism and hate speech — is not lost in the debate over technology itself.”
