It’s a recurring production that has a profound depth as its core premise, and it’s one of the most popular shows in television history.
The fake news
The show, known as Cheeky Justice, is hosted by the creators of South Park, the show’s creators and co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who wear their own suits. They use deepfake and artificial intelligence – synthesized media – to poke fun at some of the most important issues of our time.
Meta commentary
The first episode was posted on YouTube on October 26, and Fred and Sassy are warning their loyal viewers not to believe everything they see. The satirical twist is that the footage shown as genuine is deeply fake, with the footage described as’ fake ‘either being genuine or played by puppets.
The episode features a highly convincing “deep fake” depicting the face of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose face was immortalized as a child. A low-key President Trump also made an appearance, as did his wife Ivanka Trump and daughter Melania.
Deepfake acting
Sassy Justice probably uses face-swapping, which is becoming increasingly popular among artists and filmmakers. The algorithm works by training a shot of a person and then superimposing a generated version of that person’s face on a basic actor.
The process is not always smooth and some post-processing is needed to smooth things over, but the impersonator is cast to preserve the body, voice and performance of the actor while translating the original expression into a deep face, creating the most compelling end product.
Deepfake TV
A number of other audiovisual productions have used professionalised frozen products in the past year. These include a Hulu commercial featuring several sports stars, Kim Kardashian’s appearance in a video game and the documentary Welcome to Chechnya, which used a deep fake for the first time to protect the identity of its subject. Sassy Justice is one of a series of recurring productions that are based on profound falsifications as part of their core premise.
