The San Francisco Chronicle covered HLLI’s suit on behalf of Christopher Kohls, the person behind the “Mr Reagan,” YouTube and X accounts. Kohls challenges the constitutionality of two bills that Gov. Gavin Newsom contends makes his parody content illegal.
After Kohls’ video was posted on X, Newsom replied with his own post on the site: “Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal. I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is,” he wrote.
The Kohls video includes a statement that it was intended as a “parody.” AB2655 says its ban on deepfakes does not apply to parodies or satires, but Kohls said his video would not be protected — the legislation requires the “parody” label to be written in letters as large as any other writing on the video, which, according to the lawsuit, would fill up most of the screen.
The legislation “chills and restrains political humorists,” Theodore Frank, lead attorney for Kohls, said in the lawsuit.
He said the video “exaggerates real political talking points and mannerisms, which (Kohls) hopes reduced the chance of Harris winning the 2024 presidential election. There is nothing wrong with this. (Kohls) has an absolute Constitutional right to lampoon politicians he believes should not be elected.”
Read the entire piece at the Chronicle.