Billionaire X owner and Donald Trump supporter Elon Musk circulated a parody video which purports to feature Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, confessing to the truth of various Republican attack points against her — and mocking her own and President Joe Biden‘s positions and accomplishments.
Playing over images of the Vice President, what sounds like Harris’s voice says that she is a “DEI” hire and a “deep state puppet,” among other accusations hurled at her by MAGA adherents.
The video, which has more than 15 million views on X alone, was posted by the YouTube account, Mr. Reagan. It’s not clear whether the Harris voice used in the parody was created via an AI voice generator fed on Harris’s public oratory or crafted from splicing out-of-context audio grabs using her real voice.
[NOTE: So widespread is Musk’s influence, given his 190 million followers, that Mr. Reagan subsequently made a video about Musk’s retweet and how it made his Harris video go “nuclear.”]
California Governor Gavin Newsom responded to Musk and the ‘ad’ by writing: “Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal.” He added, “I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is.”
Manipulating a voice in an “ad” like this one should be illegal.
I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is. pic.twitter.com/NuqOETkwTI
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 29, 2024
Musk replied to Newsom: “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.” (Predictably, Suggon Deeznutz is now trending on X.)
Note: This isn’t the first time Musk has taken a swing at Newsom. Musk recently announced that he’s moving the X and SpaceX headquarters from California to Texas.
Newsom should create an endowed chair at Univ of California for Prof Deeznuts
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2024
Musk also just started a poll on X (with a winking face emoji): “Newsom should create an endowed chair at Univ of California for Prof Deeznuts” and ask his millions of followers to vote either “Yezzz” or “Nooo.”
While many Musk fans are voting “Yezzz” and applauding Musk’s humor, there are a few questioning Musk’s maturity with comments including, “you’re 53 years old man.”