Spencer Pratt Reposts Viral AI Batman Video for Los Angeles Mayor Race as Karen Bass Cast as Joker
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 27
Spencer Pratt Reposts Viral AI Batman Video for Los Angeles Mayor Race as Karen Bass Cast as Joker
6 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 27
An AI-made Batman-style video that Spencer Pratt reposted on X spread fast enough to be mistaken for a campaign ad, thrusting his Los Angeles mayoral bid into wider view.
The clip recasts Los Angeles as Gotham, shows incumbent Mayor Karen Bass as the Joker and portrays Pratt descending in black armor to save a city under Democratic rule.
Charlie Curran, a Los Angeles filmmaker, created the fan video, underscoring how generative AI can produce cinematic political-style content without the cost, staffing or disclosure structure of a traditional ad.
Pratt, a registered Republican running in the city’s nonpartisan primary, has built his outsider campaign around anger over homeless encampments and the 2025 wildfires.
That wildfire message is personal: Pratt says Bass and City Hall mishandled the response before, during and after the blaze that destroyed his Pacific Palisades home last year.
Is Spencer Pratt's AI campaign the future of politics or just a high-tech celebrity spectacle?
When AI-made fan videos go viral, who is responsible for preventing voter deception?