Watch the Deep Fake Video That NBC News is Demanding Trump Campaign Officials Take Down

NBC News has demanded that a Trump campaign official remove a deep fake video featuring NBC’s Garrett Haake “reporting” from outside the third GOP primary debate.

Semafor’s Max Tani and Shelby Talcott first reported the demand from NBC News, which focuses on a video posted on social media by Chris LaCivita, who is identified in the post as a “Trump Senior Advisor.”

The video features Haake ostensibly talking trash on Trump’s rivals, disguised as a real report:

And welcome to a special edition of Meet the Press. Now coming to you live from beautiful Miami, Florida. As we count down to the third Republican presidential debate hosted by NBC News, I’m Garrett Haake live from our NBC News debate hall spin room, where we are just hours away from five Republican candidates taking the stage tonight. It’s arguably a game of survival as the field faces major questions about the state of their own campaigns and the state of this race, with frontrunner Donald Trump maintaining his commanding lead and once again skipping the contest. This is Ron DeSantis, an establishment RINO that wears insoles in his boots in order to look taller. And this is Nikki Haley. Nobody really gives a shit about Nikki Haley. This guy is probably just a stagehand. Who the fuck invited this guy? And this guy is probably just delivering pizzas. Anyway, nobody cares about these bullshit RINO debates. Especially when you know that Donald Trump is going to kick some ass tonight.

Of course, it’s not a real report, and most critical-thinking viewers would know that immediately upon watching it. LaCivita later called it a clear “parody” to circumvent any legal troubles, but it’s not entirely clear if that strategy will work, writing, “To keep @NBCNews Lawyers off my ass, please note…. THIS IS A PARODY!”

Legal professor and frequent Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley weighed in on the post, noting:

If the videotape was done by (or at the behest of the Trump campaign), it could find itself in a torts lawsuit. If it is a reposting alone, there could be greater defenses in sharing a video that has drawn attention in the campaign, though NBC could still claim that the Trump campaign is replicating the violations.

He also noted, “Haake has an obvious false light claim here,” and “However, he may also have a claim under appropriation of name or likeness.”

It is unclear who produced the video and if it was done at the behest of anyone connected with former President Donald Trump or his campaign.

Mediaite has contacted NBC News for comment and will update the post accordingly if necessary.