For anyone wondering what Chris Cuomo has been doing since being fired by CNN in 2021 amidst big brother Andrew Cuomo's sexual harassment scandal, it wasn't learning how to spot deepfakes.
Even when they're watermarked "parody 100% made with AI."
On Wednesday, Cuomo, who now works for Nexstar Media Group hosting Cuomo for NewsNation, took to X to chastise New York progressive Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) for something that never happened.
Cuomo posted an Instagram reel on X that he captioned:
"Nothing about hamas or people burning jews cars...but sweeney jeans ad? Deserved time on floor of congress? What happd to this party? Fight for small business ...not for small culture wars"
@ChrisCuomo/X
Even if Cuomo missed the watermark across the top of the video, across the bottom of the reel was the sourcing info:
"instagram.com Chat GPT Memes + Al Art (@memerunnergpt) • Instagram reel"
The reel Cuomo fell for showed a deepfake of Representative AOC speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The ridiculously over-the-top AO-faux said:
" Sydney Sweeney looks like an Aryan goddess, and the American Eagle jeans campaign is blatant Nazi propaganda."
"I mean, f*ck. Watching that sultry little temptress squeeze into a Canadian tuxedo three sizes too small with her bouncy little funbags on the screen staring at you, piercing through the core of your soul with those ocean-blue eyes that could resurrect the Führer from his grave in Argentina, is something that should alarm every American citizen because in America, beauty is not defined by Whiteness."
"Oh no, it is defined by the number of victim groups of which you are a member: skinny, attractive, blonde-haired, blue-eyed cisgender women descend from the slave daddy oppressors of this nation. And any man who cranks one out while thinking about a woman like this probably hates Black people, probably hates gay people, and they certainly hate the diversity of our great nation."
"So I say, instead of simping for the Sydneys, we should be celebrating the Shaniquas. Instead of worshipping the hot, straight blonde, what about the obese alpha? People with blue hair. They need love too. And to all the haters who say companies that go woke go broke, I’d rather be poor than a f*cking Nazi."
The caricature is so exaggerated that the main character of The Who's rock opera Tommy could tell it was fake. If you don't get that reference, Elton John's "Pinball Wizard" is about Tommy, the kid that "sure plays a mean pinball."
Cuomo, a lawyer by education and a journalist by trade, remained clueless for an embarrassing amount of time (three hours) until Representative AOC commented on the post.
The no-nonsense New Yorker wrote:
"This is a deepfake dude. Please use your critical thinking skills. At this point you’re just reposting Facebook memes and calling it journalism"
In a new stand-alone post, Cuomo responded (without tagging AOC):
"You are correct...that was a deepfake (but it really does sound like you). Thank you for correcting."
"But now to the central claim: show me you calling on hamas to surrender or addressing the bombing of a car in st louis belonging to the idf american soldier?…dude?"
People felt the words Cuomo was searching for were "I'm sorry I shared obvious misinformation about you."
And that he should have just taken the L.
When Piers Morgan can rightfully call you out...
@piersmorgan/X
...it's past time to step away from the keyboard.
Which Cuomo did, so he could try to claim his blunder was really a mistake by Representative AOC on his NewsNation show...
...which got equally mocked.
@swd2/X
@NotoriusBFD/X
The MAGAsphere, including their leader Republican President Donald Trump, are desperately trying to make "liberals/Democrats attack Sydney Sweeney" a real thing.
No prominent Democratic official or lawmaker or progressive leader has commented on the American Eagle advertisements. The criticism is primarily by bipartisan trolls trying to create conflict.
So someone decided to use AI to put the words into AOC's mouth.
But why would Chris Cuomo—nepo baby of 1970s-90s Democratic powerbroker Mario Cuomo—target Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
AOC endorsed and continues to very publicly support NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani defeated big bro Andrew Cuomo in the city's Democratic primary.
They'll face off again in November after disgraced former Governor Cuomo got on the ballot as an independent.
