Video of Taylor Swift calling California wildfires ‘divine retribution’ is fake
Kate Atkinson
January 15, 2025
WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Taylor Swift said the LA wildfires are “divine retribution” for US support of Israel.
OUR VERDICT
False. The video is a deepfake.
AAP FACTCHECK – A fake video clip supposedly showing pop singer Taylor Swift calling the Los Angeles wildfires punishment for US support of Israel is circulating on social media.
The deepfake appears to show Swift commenting on the LA disaster during a televised interview, calling the fires “God’s punishment” and “divine retribution” for US support of Israel.
A news channel logo is visible and captions in Arabic overlay the video.
“For over a year and a half,” she appears to say, “Gaza has endured relentless bombing by missiles financed through the taxes paid by American citizens.
“This brutal assault has caused immense suffering for Gaza’s residents and left its infrastructure in ruins while the world remained largely silent.
“However, in just two days divine retribution struck the United States, as a natural disaster burned an area larger than Gaza itself …”
The clip is being shared widely on social media.
“Listen carefully to what the international artist Taylor Swift said: ‘America’s fires are the result of its actions in Gaza,’ one user captioned an X post.
The footage is taken from a November 2021 interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (four minutes 26 seconds) and she’s talking about a recording of her song All Too Well.
Swift’s appearance, dress, jewellery and the set’s background match the deepfake video, but her speech is different.
Red flags indicating the clip is a deepfake include her inconsistent accent and her voice appearing out of sync with her mouth, which moves unnaturally.
The earliest version of the video AAP FactCheck could find was posted to TikTok account @roya24.ai on January 11, 2025.
The account has shared many AI videos in the past.
According to Google Translate, its bio reads: “Vision 24 channel. A Moroccan page with an Algerian flavour.”
The clip has had 4.9 million views at the time of writing.
Location information shows it was posted from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AAP)
