Wildfires have engulfed the city of Los Angeles. In this context, a video (here, here, and here) is viral on social media that allegedly shows pop singer Taylor Swift saying that the LA fires occurred in the US as a consequence of its support to Israel in its conflict with Gaza. We verify the authenticity of this video through this article.
Claim: Video of Taylor Swift saying that God punished the US with the LA fires for supporting Israel in the Gaza-Israel conflict.
Fact: This is a Deepfake video. Taylor Swift has not made such comments on the US in the context of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. Hence, the claim made in the post is False.
To check the veracity of the claim, we searched the internet to see if the media has reported on Taylor Swift making such comments on the LA fires, linking it to the US supporting Israel in its conflict with Gaza. This search did not yield any credible news reports. Further, we checked Taylor Swift’s social media handles (here, here, and here) to verify if she posted the viral video. However, we did not find such posts on her social media accounts.
To learn more about the viral video, we performed a reverse image search using a few keyframes from the video. This led us to a YouTube video of her appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.’
She is seen wearing the same costume as seen in the viral video. The stage set in the background also appears identical to the viral video. This video is from 12 November 2021. She did not speak about the Gaza-Israel conflict in the 9:38-second video clip.
We found her actions at 4:33 seconds, similar to a moment in the viral video. This makes it clear that a small clip from this video has been edited and used to make the viral video. You can see the similarities in the following collage.
Additionally, we ran the viral clip through Hiya, a deepfake voice detection tool. Its analysis showed that the audio in the viral clip is ‘likely a deepfake.’
To sum up, a deepfake video is viral as visuals of Taylor Swift saying that the LA fires are a consequence of the US supporting Israel.
