Does a viral video prove that Britney Spears, Madonna, Beyonce and other celebrities have performed satanic rituals? No, that's not true: The video was made up of still images generated by AI, according to AI detectors. The images contained multiple distortions in the hands and legs of those stars the pictures supposedly portrayed.
The claim, an old one, resurfaced in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on September 26, 2024. The post said:
Hey Adriana, Britney, Katy, Beyonce & Madonna, Care to explain what's happening here? Actually don't worry about it - the whole World is quickly realising on their own.....
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 14:31:06 2024 UTC)
The low-quality video shared in the post consisted of still images that supposedly portrayed Britney Spears, Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande engaged in satanic rituals.
The claim has been circulating online at least since December 2023 (archived here).
The still images that made up the video's "footage" contained multiple discrepancies consistent with AI-generated pictures.
In the opening shot, one of the hands in a supposed image of Britney Spears lacked an anatomically correct thumb. Then, a supposed image of Madonna appeared without fingernails at all. Her body was levitating above the lit surface in an awkward position.
(Sources: X screenshots taken on Fri Sep 27 between 14:30:54 and 15:27:32 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
In the image where the pseudo-Madonna did have fingernails, a photographer, seen to her left, holds his camera with one wrist turned in the wrong direction for taking images. His foot also appears to be too small for his body proportions:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 15:43:03 2024 UTC)
The pseudo-Beyonce's hands also seemed to contradict human anatomy, just like the shape of her foot:
(Sources: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 14:48:48 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Another image showed a three-legged person:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 17:30:22 2024 UTC)
As the images above demonstrate, the pentagrams appeared unfinished, and the letters seen on the pseudo-Beyonce's clothes and around two of the circles were unreadable. Those are also signs of generative AI, which is not known for handling symbols well.
AI-detection tools also suggested that the video was not authentic.
True Media (archived here) found "substantial evidence of manipulation":
(Source: True Media screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 16:37:18 2024 UTC)
Hive Moderation detected AI, too:
(Sources: Hive Moderation screenshots taken on Fri Sep 27 between 16:20:13 and 16:20:30 2024 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
And so did AI or Not:
(Source: AI or Not screenshot taken on Fri Sep 27 16:28:42 2024 UTC)
References to "satanic" practices are a common conspiracy trope that can be found in numerous claims debunked by Lead Stories.
Other Lead Stories fact checks covering claims about the entertainment industry can be found here. Our fact checks about deepfakes are here.
