Perhaps it was too NSFW for Instagram’s censors, but that didn’t stop Zoe Saldana from at least attempting to shut down a fake NSFW image of her that’s been circulating on social media.
The “Guardians of the Galaxy” star posted a censored version of an image to her own Instagram page in a since-deleted post, according to The Daily Mail, and threatened to “report immediately” anyone who shares it.
“Let it be known I am no victim and I do not suffer in silence,” she wrote of the image that has apparently been making its way around social media. Finally, Saldana had had enough of being tagged in the modified picture.
Addressing her post to anyone and everyone who has shared this and similar fake NSFW images of her, Saldana opened her statement with a very aggressive statement. “Whoever the f–k you are, stop posting this false picture of me,” she wrote. “I have never, nor will I ever have pictures like this taken of my body or myself.”
She then went on to explain to her fans who may be confused by her sharing the graphic image (even censored), “This is not a real picture for anyone reading this. This is violating, offensive and insulting for women.”
Fans modifying pornographic images to look like celebrities has been around for years, and with the advent of deepfakes — videos believably modified to change the identity of their participants (usually from one celebrity to another) — there’s a whole new avenue of celebrity-likeness exploitation being explored.
In other words, if Peter Cushing can be digitally revived to appear in a “Star Wars” film and the late James Dean can star in an upcoming project thanks to computer recreation, there’s virtually no limit to what the wrong people can do virtually to anyone. It’s one thing to star in a feature film, it’s quite another to star in something extremely NSFW you never actually starred in, be it a still image or video.
“I defend myself and defend all women that cannot speak for themselves,” Saldana wrote in her post. “You will not hide like a coward on this platform and think you can get away with it.” TooFab has reached out to Saldana for specifics as to how she might intend to battle this real problem facing many women, celebrity and non-celeb alike.
With the continuing advances of technology, celebrities are standing on a precipice of unknown and potentially scary consequences of simply existing in the public sphere. And while in many ways, this is nothing new, it’s becoming harder and harder to discern what is real and what isn’t in this world of deepfakes, and that’s enough cause for concern for stars like Saldana and anyone else who could find themselves victimized in a similar manner.
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