Sen. Amy Klobuchar is demanding new laws after an AI-generated video made her look like she was ridiculing Sydney Sweeney’s jeans ad in one of the most bizarre viral clips to hit Capitol Hill.
The Minnesota Democrat used a Wednesday op-ed in the New York Times to publicly respond after the deepfake video, crafted from footage of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on data privacy, racked up over a million views online.
“I learned that lesson in a visceral way over the last month when a fake video of me — opining on, of all things, the actress Sydney Sweeney’s jeans — went viral,” Klobuchar admitted.
According to the senator, the phony clip began spreading shortly after she co-led the hearing.
Senator Amy Klobuchar wants you guys to know that she did NOT say that Sydney Sweeney has perfect titties and Democrats are ugly. This video is AI. Just for clarity, I, however, DID say both these things. Thank you for your attention to this matter: pic.twitter.com/lkRUeIFqu7
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) August 21, 2025
Curious, she clicked on the viral post making the rounds on X, formerly Twitter.
“That’s when I heard my voice — but certainly not me — spewing a vulgar and absurd critique of an ad campaign for jeans featuring Sydney Sweeney,” she said.
The fabricated footage showed a twisted version of Klobuchar delivering crude commentary.
I never thought I’d opine about Sydney Sweeney’s jeans. And that’s because I didn’t. It was AI.
Deepfakes are getting impossible to detect, especially when companies—and Congress—refuse to act. We need to give Americans control over their own images.https://t.co/QrhAbdoWZX
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) August 20, 2025
“The A.I. deepfake featured me using the phrase ‘perfect t-tties’ and lamenting that Democrats were ‘too fat to wear jeans or too ugly to go outside,’” Klobuchar recounted.
Although she recognized it as fake right away, Klobuchar acknowledged the realism of the clip.
Sen. Klobuchar Demands Deepfake Laws After Viral AI Video Falsely Claims She Praised Sydney Sweeney’s “Perfect T-tties” and Slammed Democrats’ Looks pic.twitter.com/sIfhvuRKmz
— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) August 21, 2025
“Though I could immediately tell that someone used footage from the hearing to make a deepfake, there was no getting around the fact that it looked and sounded very real,” she wrote.
The counterfeit version of the senator targeted Democrats in language many critics called grotesque.
“If Republicans are gonna have beautiful girls with perfect t-tties in their ads, we want ads for Democrats too, you know?” the fake Klobuchar said in a disturbingly accurate imitation of her voice.
Sydney Sweeney is so much hotter than Taylor Swift!
Yes or No ?? pic.twitter.com/eWuUaCeG5K
— ᴺᵉʷˢ Ivanka Trump 🇺🇸🦅 (@IvankaNews_) August 20, 2025
“We want ugly, fat b–ches wearing pink wigs and long-a-s fake nails being loud and twerking on top of a cop car at a Waffle House because they didn’t get extra ketchup, you know?” the deep-fake senator continued.
“Just because we’re the party of ugly people doesn’t mean we can’t be featured in ads, OK?” her digital doppelgänger continued.
“And I know most of us are too fat to wear jeans or too ugly to go outside, but we want representation.”
SYDNEY SWEENEY! pic.twitter.com/SCoi9iy3Bw
— ؘ (@archivingsydney) August 16, 2025
The AI-generated tirade referenced the controversial American Eagle ad featuring Sydney Sweeney, where the actress jokingly quipped about her “good jeans.”
The lighthearted pun, however, set off a meltdown from corners of the left, with some TikTok users branding the ad “Nazi propaganda.”
“I never thought I’d opine about Sydney Sweeney’s jeans. And that’s because I didn’t. It was AI,” Klobuchar wrote on X after the incident.
sydney sweeney in ibiza. pic.twitter.com/hPZQ02hnzI
— ؘ (@archivingsydney) August 18, 2025
She blasted the growing difficulty in distinguishing authentic content from digital manipulation.
“Deepfakes are getting impossible to detect, especially when companies—and Congress—refuse to act,” Klobuchar continued.
“We need to give Americans control over their own images,” she added.
The senator said she attempted to get the video removed across platforms but ran into resistance.
Drop a❤ if you're a fan of Sydney Sweeney!! pic.twitter.com/7vN8XvnVwO
— ᴺᵉʷˢ Ivanka Trump 🇺🇸🦅 (@IvankaNews_) August 15, 2025
TikTok removed it, Meta applied an AI label, but X did little. According to Klobuchar, the platform suggested she seek out a Community Note to flag it as fake, offering no additional support.
That frustrating experience, Klobuchar argued, spurred her to push forward with new legislation called the No Fakes Act, which she said has bipartisan sponsorship.
The proposed law, as described by Klobuchar, would “give people the right to demand that social media companies remove deepfakes of their voice and likeness, while making exceptions for speech protected by the First Amendment.”
She noted it builds on the Take It Down Act, legislation signed into law by President Trump in May.
The liberals will hate this photo of Sydney Sweeney
The rest of us normal people will love it ❤️ pic.twitter.com/iySMWuHam5
— Lee Patriot Hood (@Mofoman360) August 15, 2025
That law targeted the “nonconsensual publication of intimate images, including AI-generated content” and created a removal mechanism for victims.
The new bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), highlighting its bipartisan appeal.
Still, Klobuchar admitted her own viral ordeal was hardly the most dangerous example of the technology.
She pointed to a recent case where someone used AI to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio, contacting high-level officials under false pretenses.
sydney sweeney in the ocean. pic.twitter.com/Wv8IPv7EU2
— ؘ (@archivingsydney) August 19, 2025
“In the United States, and within the bounds of our Constitution, we must put in place common-sense safeguards for artificial intelligence,” Klobuchar wrote in her op-ed.
They must at least include labeling requirements for content that is substantially generated by A.I.”
Warning that the problem is just beginning, she wrote, “We are at just the tip of the iceberg. The internet has an endless appetite for flashy, controversial content that stokes anger.”
sydney sweeney, the most perfect. pic.twitter.com/eXoBbqZgWf
— ؘ (@archivingsydney) August 21, 2025
“The people who create these videos aren’t going to stop at Sydney Sweeney’s jeans.”
In her closing words, Klobuchar said lawmakers need to act to protect Americans’ privacy.
“We can love the technology and we can use the technology, but we can’t cede all the power over our own images and our privacy,” she wrote.
“It is time for members of Congress to stand up for their constituents, stop currying favor with the tech companies and set the record straight. In a democracy, we do that by enacting laws. And it is long past time to pass one.”