Reports of Canadian actor who died post-surgery to look like BTS' Jimin was AI hoax
Last week, reports of a young Canadian actor who allegedly died post-surgery in an attempt to look like BTS’ Park Jimin started circulating in the media.
As per a report by Daily Mail, Saint Von Colucci, 22, had developed an infection from a cosmetic procedure he had months prior. The report has since been pulled from the site after it was revealed that the story was a hoax using AI.
The article quotes Eric Blake, who claimed to be Colucci’s publicist. He stated that the actor and aspiring singer had a dozen surgeries worth US$220,000 because he was “very unhappy about his appearance” and “felt very discriminated against his Western looks.”
At the time, Daily Hive tried verifying Colucci’s identity by contacting Global Affairs Canada.
The organization stated, “Global Affairs Canada is aware of reports of the death of [a] Canadian in South Korea and is working to confirm the information. No further information is available at this time.”
Seoul-based journalist Raphael Rashid also noticed several suspicious details in the report. Rashid called The Hype Company PR, which sent out the press releases after noticing that the actor had almost no online presence.
“The phone number on the website doesn’t pick up, and when I let it ring for a while, minutes later I got a text message reply with ‘Wtf do u want,'” Rashid tweeted. “Pleasant, if this is really a PR company or just a random number.”
Read the thread below:
1/ I might go to hell if this is true, but take the news of the Canadian singer “Saint Von Colucci” dying after surgery in Korea to look like Jimin with a pinch of salt. There’s no proof any of this is even true. For starters, the pic Daily Mail included might be AI-generated. pic.twitter.com/s3WSFIDbih
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) April 25, 2023
An April 28 report by Variety reveals that the story was an elaborate hoax that likely used an AI image.
@Frolicmedia_/Twitter
Press releases had been sent to several media companies through a bot called Nylas. The releases included links to a folder with a media kit that included images that were supposedly taken before and after Colucci’s surgeries.
But when run through an AI art detector, results show that it was a 75% likelihood that it was an AI-generated image.
According to Variety, the folder has now been emptied, and calls and emails to The Hype Company PR have gone unanswered.
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