A$AP Rocky deepfake video — Oct 2026

A$AP Rocky is facing accusations of intellectual property theft following the release of his music video for the single Shroom Clouds. Fans and creators have alleged that the production utilized generative AI to replicate a specific visual sequence from a 2019 video without authorization from the original artists.

What happened

The controversy centers on a psychedelic tunnel sequence appearing at the 2:25 mark of the Shroom Clouds video. Creators Ari Fararooy and Cache Bunny, who produced the original 2019 video featuring parkour athlete Jason Paul, identified the imagery as a direct appropriation of their work. Cache Bunny stated that the production team allegedly fed their original footage into an AI model to replace the athlete with A$AP Rocky while leaving the original grass and shadow elements intact.

Public scrutiny intensified after Cache Bunny highlighted the similarities on social media, noting that the original creators were never contacted for permission or licensing. The YouTube credits for the Shroom Clouds video explicitly list multiple individuals under the roles of AI Artist, confirming that generative technology was employed in the production. The incident has sparked significant backlash within the creator community, raising concerns about the ethical use of AI tools in professional music video production. Prior to the accusations, A$AP Rocky had publicly discussed his views on AI, describing it as a tool that can be used for practical purposes, such as stem splitting, while emphasizing his preference for traditional, collaborative music-making processes.