Scarlett Johansson attends The American Museum of Natural History’s 2024 Museum Gala at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, December 5, 2024. Photo: Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

If you were online on February 11, you likely saw an AI-produced video of Jewish celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, Jake Gyllenhaal, Scarlet Johansson, and Jack Black, wearing t-shirts that had a Jewish star and a middle finger to Kanye West. While it looked smooth, it was obviously AI.

While it is true that many Jewish celebrities have not been vocal enough in fighting the shocking rise of antisemitism in the US (Seinfeld and David Schwimmer have been good), we cannot expect them to comment every time Kanye West makes absurd antisemitic posts, as he recently did.

I am not upset with the person who made the video, because it’s funny. For anyone who believed it was real, they need a reality check.

I wish these Jewish celebrities would do something like this in real life, but that’s not happening.

Instead, many Jews — and especially many Jewish celebrities — believe that if antisemitism is ignored, it will go away. Unfortunately, we have learned that is not the case.

Kanye, who has said he loves Hitler in the past, thinks he is funny. People may try to excuse his behavior as part of a mental health problem. Whether he has one or not, there is no excuse. Plenty of people have mental health problems, and the logical conclusion is not that they are antisemites.

I don’t understand how West was allowed to have a Super Bowl commercial given his past comments about the Jews. No corporation whose CEO said the kind of things he said would have been able to be featured on the game. His website featured only one item: a t-shirt with a swastika on it.

Kanye is addicted to attention. It is sad that in 2025, one of the best ways to get it is antisemitism. It is also sad that rather than real videos against him, there are AI ones. The problem is not going away — as much as these Jewish celebrities and others wish it would.

Kanye still influences people around the world, and it would be surprising if his posts did not lead to violent attacks against Jews — and more chillingly, even more global hatred of the Jewish people.

If you would have told me 10 years ago, that a famous rapper would make such posts and the response would be an AI video that some thought was real, I would have said that was impossible. Will we also have AI videos against Candace Owens next?

Those promoting false accusations against Jews often have little intelligence. Perhaps artificial intelligence will one day be installed in their brains. But until then, AI videos of Jewish celebrities is not the answer.

But I understand someone trying to do something when people in the real world aren’t doing enough.

The author is a writer based in New York.