''Sassy Justice'' is a

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

created by

Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, and musician. He is best known for co-creating ''South Park'' (1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative part ...

Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, and musician. He is best known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his cre ...

and

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. His film roles include the voice of Darth Maul in '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999), Pete in '' Shaun of the Dead' ...

that uses

deepfake ''Deepfakes'' (a portmanteau of and ) are images, videos, or audio that have been edited or generated using artificial intelligence, AI-based tools or AV editing software. They may depict real or fictional people and are considered a form of ...

technology to insert unrelated celebrities and politicians into the fictional world of a television reporter. The first episode was posted to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on October26, 2020.

Production and development

The series was created by the newly-formed Deep Voodoo studio, made up of over twenty computer graphics artists. The team was originally assembled for a film project that was interrupted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, who made the video based on a series of impressions that Serafinowicz developed of a "sassy"

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. The first video, which featured deepfakes of Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg, went viral after airing on television and YouTube in 2020. The creators have a handful of shorter videos alongside a 15-minute first episode that may be turned into an ongoing series, film, or other type of project. Sassy Justice started filming for a second show in Cheyenne, Wyoming between August 23 and August 27, 2021. Multiple filming locations were observed including locations in downtown, midtown, and north Cheyenne. A holiday special was released in December 2020.

Premise

The series follows reporter Fred Sassy of

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Wyoming, most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is the county seat of Laramie County, Wyoming, Laramie County, with 65,132 reside ...

(played by

, whose face is superimposed with a

) who investigates the news itself, including the dangers posed by

media manipulation Media manipulation refers to orchestrated campaigns in which actors exploit the distinctive features of broadcasting mass communications or digital media platforms to mislead, misinform, or create a narrative that advances their interests and ag ...

and

fake news Fake news or information disorder is false or misleading information (misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, and hoaxes) claiming the aesthetics and legitimacy of news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person ...

. Serafinowicz had previously overdubbed Trump's voice in internet videos titled "Sassy Trump".

Reception and impact

Mark Frauenfelder of ''

BoingBoing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice wo ...

'' considers the first episode "terrific deepfake satire". In 2022, Parker and Stone received $20 million in funding for their deepfake studio Deep Voodoo based on this short.

Celebrities deepfaked

Julie Andrews Dame Julie Andrews (born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has garnered numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over eight decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Fi ...

as Louise "Lou" Xiang, a computer technician; she is actually played by

Sarah Alexander Sarah Alexander (''née'' Smith; 3 January 1971) is an English actress. She has appeared in British series including ''Armstrong and Miller'', ''Smack the Pony'', ''Coupling'', '' The Worst Week of My Life'', ''Green Wing'', '' Marley's Ghosts ...

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

as a fictionalized version of himself (episode 1, actually Serafinowicz) *

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

as a fictionalized version of himself (episode 1, actually Parker) *

Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He is a son-in-law of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, through his marriage to Ivanka Trump and served as a senior advisor in his father-in- ...

as a fictionalized version of himself (episode 1, actually Betty Boogie Parker) *

as a fictionalized version of himself (episode 1) and Fred Sassy, local investigative reporter; both are in reality Serafinowicz *

Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman. She is the second child of Donald Trump, the president of the United States, and his first wife, Ivana. Trump was a senior advisor in her father's first admi ...

as a fictionalized version of herself (episode 1, actually Parker) *

Chris Wallace Christopher Wallace (born October 12, 1947) is an American broadcast journalist. He is known for his tough and wide-ranging interviews, for which he is often compared to his father, ''60 Minutes'' journalist Mike Wallace. Over his 60-year care ...

as a fictionalized version of himself (episode 1) *

Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born May 14, 1984) is an American businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms, of which he is the chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling sharehold ...

as the Dialysis King of Cheyenne (actually Stone) *

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

as a fictionalized version of himself (episode 1, actually Parker)

References

External links