A new video app is being utilized by white supremacists to trick celebrities into recording anti-Semitic messages, according to a report by BuzzFeed News.
Cameo, which launched in April 2018, was created to allow fans to pay for celebs to record personalized messages. Among those who have been duped are NFL legend Brett Favre, rapper Soulja Boy, and actor Andy Dick. The two alt-right leaders behind the plan bragged about it in a livestream Wednesday.
Cameo and representatives for the celebrities told BuzzFeed News they were unaware the messages supported anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In one message, Favre says, “Brett Favre here with a shoutout to the Handsome Truth and the GDL boys. You guys are patriots in my eyes. So keep waking them up and don’t let the small get you down. Keep fighting too and don’t ever forget the USS Liberty and the men and women who died on that day. God bless and take care.”
GDL refers to the “Goyim Defense League,” an anti-Semitic group run by YouTubers who go by Handsome Truth and Sway Guevara.
The phrasing used by Favre includes coded messaging, such as “the small,” which refers to “small hats,” a slur for yarmulkes. The “U.S.S. Liberty” refers to a ship that was accidentally shot by Israeli forces during the Six-Day War. Conspiracy theorists assert that the attack was actually intentional.
Cameo allows users to purchase a video message for a fee set by the celebrity after submitting a script to be either accepted or rejected. In the livestream, Handsome Truth explains that they purposefully made the messages cryptic enough that the celebs wouldn’t realize their actual meaning.
Representatives for Andy Dick and Soulja Boy told BuzzFeed News that both men thought they were supporting fans with their Cameo messages. Favre’s representatives didn’t return BuzzFeed’s request for comment, but Cameo’s CEO said that Favre’s team was made aware of the video when it started to go viral on alt-right internet spaces, and his reps reached out to Cameo to have it removed.