ESPN Faces Criticism For Bizarre Decision To Use A Deep Fake Damian Lillard Clip

Basketball fans and sports media are asking ESPN to do some explaining after the company tweeted a deep fake of NBA superstar Damian Lillard from their SportsCenter account that was from years ago and made it appear as if it was new.

After Thursday night's Milwaukee Bucks victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in which Lillard dropped 39 points and 8 rebounds, ESPN tweeted out a supposed clip of the point guard saying that he "didn't come to Milwaukee to waste his time."

The only problem is... the clip is from the 2019-2020 season when Lillard was actually on the Trail Blazers.

But someone over at ESPN apparently decided to superimpose a Bucks jersey on Lillard as well as put an ESPN microphone flag over the original interview that was done on TNT. (Not sure if TNT appreciates that by the way.)

I mean what are we doing here people?

FANS ARE CRITICIZING THE TWEET

Over 30 hours later the original tweet has still not been deleted. Instead, people had to make an X Community Note issuing the correction to the post informing viewers that that the original video was actually from a previous season. The post currently has a Community Note that reads, "The video in the tweet has been digitally edited to change Lillard’s uniform, a logo on the floor, and add ESPN’s logo to the microphone flag."

When reached for comment, an ESPN spokesperson gave a bizarre explanation that wasn't even an apology but rather double-downed on the social media team's decision to tweet out the deep fake.

"We occasionally look to connect sports moments of the past with contemporary imagery and storylines as part of our social content. While it was never our intention to misrepresent anything for fans, we completely recognize how this instance caused confusion," the spokesperson said.

Good to know that ESPN is admitting to using deep fakes in the past? Either that, or someone should have proofread the statement before it was issued. Probably should have just been like, "Our bad, the joke fell flat."

POINTLESS TO EVEN POST IT IN THE FIRST PLACE

First off, why even bother using an old Lillard clip and go through the trouble of doctoring it in the first place?

It was the opening night of a long-ass NBA season and literally nobody cares whatsoever about Lillard's comments in the clip. If anything, just post the original video and put a caption like "These words matter a whole lot more now," or something. Don't doctor the damn video!

And not to get all diva or blow things out of proportion but as someone who also works in media, ESPN's tweet is frightening because deep fakes and the rise of artificial intelligence are going to undoubtedly have an effect on real world situations. Anyone involved in any sort of media realizes this. The fact that ESPN would actively engage in it - and then brush it off as if it was no big deal is shocking, stunning and frankly, stupid.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS TOO REAL TO MESS AROUND WITH

Listen, we all "get got" from time to time... hell, OutKick and other organizations did in the past over a supposed Brian Ferentz video that showed the Iowa offensive coordinator going off in a cursing rampage.

But do you know what we did? We put our hand up and said "Hey, woops - we fell for an AI video!" And people understood. Just be honest - you're fricken ESPN of all things people!

By trying to pass if off as an error in judgement, something that was supposed to be funny, or whatever that statement was, you're only undermining your own credibility as a news organization. That's fine if you want to do that but don't bring the rest of us in media down with you.

Did you not see what's happening over at USA Today? (I guess not, which is why you should consistently read OutKick multiple times a day!)

NO MEDIA ORGANIZATION SHOULD EMBRACE DEEP FAKES

In this day and age if you're trying to be cute or funny you have to make sure that people know that something isn't real. It has to be so over the top that even the dumbest of people realize that it's not true. And unfortunately there are a ton of idiots out there; I mean have you looked at social media these days and what people pass off as real news?

And no this isn't me being a hater - and no, the most likely recent college-aged social media person should NOT be fired over this blunder... but just look at some of these replies to the SportsCenter tweet, including those that actually believed the video was real!

You gotta do better.