TikTok was flooded with deepfake videos of YouTuber and pro boxer Jake Paul seemingly coming out as gay in October 2025.

The ultra-realistic deepfakes — which were created using OpenAI’s video generation model Sora — depicted the boxer draped in an LGTBQ+ Pride flag or dancing ballet in a tutu, all while encouraging viewers to accept his sexuality.

Many have been fooled by the deepfakes, with TikTok commenters pointing out that “AI is scary” for how realistic these videos seemed. For his part, Paul made light of the viral trend by sharing several of the fake videos via his official TikTok in order to promote his energy drink brand Celsius.

“AI is getting out of hand,” he complained in one clapback.

After making the move from Ohio to southern California to capitalize on their rising Internet notoriety, brothers Logan and Jake Paul struck major paydirt.  “​​After three years of living in Los Angeles, Logan and I became the biggest daily vloggers on YouTube,” Jake, 28, said in the Thursday, March 27, premiere episode of their reality […]

Keep scrolling for more on Paul’s response and explanation of the deepfake trend.

What Are the Viral Jake Paul Deepfake Videos?

Paul is far from the first celebrity to be targeted with deepfake videos. In recent years, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks and YouTuber MrBeast have warned their fans about deepfake videos using their likenesses without permission to promote scam products.

In Paul’s case, the deepfakes weren’t necessarily used to scam viewers. Instead, creators used text-to-video generator Sora to generate completely fake footage of the athlete coming out as gay.

“I have an announcement in 3-2-1 … I’m gay. I hope you’ll support me,” an extremely realistic digital rendering of Paul announced in one deepfake that received more than 1.5 million “likes” via TikTok.

In another clip, the fake Paul wore glittery makeup and a Pride flag draped over his shoulders as he delivered an impassioned defense of the LGBTQ+ community.

“I’ve had a lot on my shoulders but I feel lighter than I ever have,” the AI purporting to be Paul told viewers. “I’m admitting it. I’m gay! It took me a while to say those words.”

Other deepfakes featured Paul bragging about “rocking [a] cute pink blouse and a white skirt,” or getting glammed up with a signature makeup palette.

The trend seemingly took aim at Paul because over his past transphobic comments. During a live streamed discussion with controversial influencers Sneako and Adin Ross in 2023, Paul said “there are only three genders: male, female, and mentally ill.”

Many TikTok users were perplexed by the deepfakes, with one person admitting: “Bro how is this ai im cooked.”

“This is actually so dangerous,” a TikTok user warned, with a third viewer complaining: “AI is the most dangerous tool we got in this world.”

Paul has used deepfakes on his own social media in the past, including sharing an AI-generated clip of him kissing opponent Gervonta Davis as a way to promote their November 2025 boxing match.

What Is Sora AI?

Many of the Paul deepfake videos featured the branded logo for Sora onscreen. The text-to-video AI model was launched by OpenAI for ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Pro subscribers in December 2024 to create short videos based on users’ text prompts. With the launch of a Sora app in October, users can simply enter a brief prompt and the AI model can generate an extremely realistic visual representation.

Sora has been widely condemned throughout the entertainment industry for intellectual property violations, prompting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to announce in October 2025 that future versions of the model will “give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters.” However, Motion Picture Association chairman Charles Rivkin complained to Deadline in October 2025 that Sora already created countless “videos that infringe our members’ films, shows, and characters [and] have proliferated on OpenAI’s service and across social media.”

Logan and Jake Paul know a thing or two about being a controversial pair of brothers.  However, when it came time for the promo shoot for their new Max reality series Paul American, which premiered Thursday, March 27, the social media stars-turned-combat sports phenoms wondered if they were drawing too close comparisons to another set […]

“While OpenAI clarified it will ‘soon’ offer rightsholders more control over character generation, they must acknowledge it remains their responsibility — not rightsholders’ — to prevent infringement on the Sora 2 service,” Rivkin insisted. “OpenAI needs to take immediate and decisive action to address this issue. Well-established copyright law safeguards the rights of creators and applies here.”

Jake Paul Responds to the Deepfake Controversy

The boxer seemingly didn’t take the viral deepfake trend too seriously as he shared several of the phony clips via his official TikTok in October 2025.

Paul spliced together one deepfake with real footage of him saying, “This AI is getting out of hand. It’s honestly not even funny.”

Viewers saw Paul being handed a can of his Celsius energy drink before he imitated the style of the deepfakes. Paul’s fiancée, Jutta Leerdam, was not amused by the viral trend.

“You don’t like it?” Paul asked Leerdam in another TikTok video, with the Olympic speed skater admitting: “I don’t like it, it’s not funny! People believe it!”

She also replied directly to one of the deepfakes, writing simply: “HELP.”

Paul has never come out as gay. He live streamed his supposed wedding to fellow YouTuber Tana Mongeau in July 2019, though the ceremony was not legally binding in the state of Nevada because they did not obtain a marriage license. Mongeau and Paul split in 2020.

Paul and Leerdam confirmed in March 2025 that they were engaged after initially meeting via Instagram two years earlier.

“We’re engaged💍🕊️🤍we can’t wait to spend forever together,” they announced via a joint Instagram post.