Sassy Justice is a web series created by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Peter Serafinowicz that uses deepfake technology to insert unrelated celebrities and politicians into the fictional world of a television reporter.[1] The first episode was posted to YouTube on October 26, 2020.[2]
The series was created by the newly-formed Deep Voodoo studio, made up of over twenty computer graphics artists.[3] The team was originally assembled for a film project that was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, who made the video based on a series of impressions that Serafinowicz developed of a "sassy" Donald Trump.[4] The first video, which featured deepfakes of Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg, went viral after airing on television and YouTube in 2020.[4] The creators have a handful of shorter videos alongside a 15-minute first episode that may be turned into an ongoing series, film, or other type of project.[4]
Sassy Justice started filming for a second show in Cheyenne, Wyoming between August 23rd and August 27th 2021.[5] Multiple filming locations were observed including locations in downtown, midtown, and north Cheyenne. A holiday special was released in December 2020.[6]
The series follows reporter Fred Sassy of Cheyenne, Wyoming (played by Peter Serafinowicz, whose face is superimposed with a deepfake of Donald Trump) who investigates the news itself, including the dangers posed by media manipulation and fake news.[7][1] Serafinowicz had previously overdubbed Trump's voice in internet videos titled "Sassy Trump".
Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing considers the first episode "terrific deepfake satire".[8]
In 2022, Parker and Stone received $20 million in funding for their deepfake studio Deep Voodoo based on this short.[9]