Super Bowl 2026 had its share of memorable moments, but one random commercial stood out as the worst of the night. Now, people are realizing a dark background detail that makes the lowly ad even more suspect.
On X, Candace Lowry Bryant spoke for all of us when she wondered what the heck this guy in the background of the Svedka advertisement was doing. He’s grinding his feet on a white couch, but there are blood stains present. Yes, the Svedka commercial was widely derided online for being both AI-generated and general terrible vibes. But, stealing from Dave Chappelle is not something we had on our bingo card.
The man in the background of the Svedka advertisement is likely a “reference” to Chappelle’s now-infamous Rick James sketch. That Comedy Central classic saw the comedian playing the funk pioneer and getting into a series of increasingly hysterical scenarios with his brother. Eddie Murphy’s brother Charlie narrates the stories and they’re a perfect time capsule of the early 2000s sense of humor. But, how in the world did Chappelle posing as Rick James end up in the commercial. Well, that’s a thorny subject.
Generative AI, on principle, works by vacuuming in all sorts of texts, movies, music. Then, it uses that data to produce visual output of different kinds. Problems have popped up lately where these AI companies get their hands caught in the cookie jar stealing from copyrighted material. This Svedka ad seems like a prime example of their data set using the idea of a raucous party and Rick James being exhumed to sell questionable vodka. They will likely deny this in coming months, but we all saw what the man did to that couch.
Now, we would be remiss in not mentioning that Dave Chappelle has his own controversies to tend to. But, it’s hard to imagine someone in his circle sending him the clip and wondering if he signed off on it. The chances of that are low, in our estimation. As we laid out up top, it’s much more likely that the people who made that Svedka advertisement just made a random query and off it went. If anyone was to probe into all of this, it would have quite an effect on how they do business in general.
Organizers like the Human Artistry Campaign have begun to point out the damaging effects that decisions like these can have on creatives big and small. At its core, Generative AI as currently constructed, relies on stealing data to render the products that advertisers use for their own personal gains. In addition to the copyright and trademark implications, the environmental blows of AI are nothing to sneeze at either. And, even more disastrous considering they have the potential to physically harm more people.
Maybe more than anything, the fact that these companies are not afraid of drawing the ire of big businesses like Paramount, Netflix, or even Chappelle himself at this point, should be eye-opening. All of the usual players are hoping that if they can just get more information, everything will work out in the end. See the rest of the Super Bowl commercials for more on that. But, just like NFTs and Crypto before it, large swaths of the country don’t seem interested. To be frank, there are more pressing issues to contend with.
The Human Artistry Campaign’s statement really sums it up. “…Rather than respect and protect this viable asset, some of the biggest tech companies, many backed by private equity and other funders, are using American creators’ work to build AI platforms without authorization or regard for copyright law. Artists, writers, and creators of all kinds are banding together with a simple message: stealing our work is not innovation. Not progress. It’s theft – plain and simple.”
