Several other videos depicted AI-generated monkeys committing crimes and labeled them as “usual suspects.” For instance, a video with 5.3 million views depicts a police car chase in which a car chased by a police cruiser crashes into a pole and a monkey runs out of the driver’s seat. It says, “ai getting out of hand bro.”
Another video, with 1 million views, depicts a white man saying, “Yup. It’s the usual suspects at it again,” followed by a shot of chimpanzees wearing gold chains running from a car while a police siren wails in the background.
Not all of the videos we found that depict Black people as criminals relied on animal imagery to push their hateful agenda. For instance, Media Matters found a video of a Black man wearing a balaclava carrying a TV out of a looted store with broken windows and saying, “Just doing my mostly peaceful shopping today.”
These AI-generated videos leaned into other racist stereotypes as well, such as “fatherlessness,” the false narrative that Black fathers are absent from their children’s lives.
A video with 373,900 views depicts a white woman crying and saying, “Tequavius, I have something to tell you. I’m pregnant.” A monkey in a backwards hat is then seen running away into a car. Text reads, “what is AI tryna say.”
In another video, with 351,000 views, a Black woman complains to a barista about not having enough milk in her coffee. The white barista says, “Maybe your baby daddy is coming back with the milk even though it’s been years already. I can get you watermelon and fried chicken instead.”
Fried chicken and watermelon consumption — a longstanding anti-Black racist stereotype — was a repeated theme in this content.
One video with 147,600 views depicted a Black man saying, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. Watermelon, please. I need watermelon.”
Another video, with 350,900 views, depicted a monkey named “Lequarius” wearing a gold chain and holding a bucket of fried chicken.
These videos also repeatedly contained themes of police violence against Black people.
One particularly viral video — with 14.2 million views — depicts two white police officers eating donuts. Then one of them says, “Look! A Black one!” and fires his gun multiple times.
In another video, with 2.1 million views, a white police officer holds a fishing rod with a watermelon as bait and says, “My numbers are low this week. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,” as a Black woman crawls over to him on her hands and knees.
Another video, with 383,300 views, shows a white police officer outside of a KFC who says he is “spawn camping these motherfuckers.” (Spawn camping is a gaming term that refers to waiting near specific spawning locations in order to kill players immediately after they spawn.) When a Black man emerges from the KFC, the white police officer says, “Bingo,” and points his gun at him.
While most of the AI videos Media Matters identified targeted Black people, other racial and ethnic groups were targeted as well.
One video with over 206,900 views reads, “Average Panda Express be like,” and depicts an Asian man telling customers to “come try our sesame orange bark bark and meow meow today” as images of cats and dogs appear on the screen.
Several videos depicted South Asian-appearing people as dirty.
In one video, with 1.2 million views, a South Asian man is chased by a shower head and soap as he screams “No! No!”
In another video, South Asian men prepare food using their feet and serve bowls of mud alongside rats.
Another video depicts a crowd of Orthodox Jewish men rolling down a hill in pursuit of a piece of gold.