Avenged Sevenfold recently was allegedly hacked using deepfake technology. A recent episode of the band’s podcast, Trax, showed a clip of singer M. Shadows informing fans that the group would have to cancel two upcoming festival performances scheduled to take place in May.
The clip stated, “Hey, Trax listeners, we’re so sorry to bring bad news to you all, but I wanted you to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, We’ve had some unexpected delays on the new album and have decided to cancel our appearances at Welcome to Rockville and Sonic Temple to focus on finishing it up. It breaks our heart to do this, but some things have to be done. I understand this is disappointing news for everyone, and I want to let you know that we are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. Creating new music is a passion we have dedicated our lives to, and we believe our fans deserve nothing but the best from us. We put our hearts and souls into this new project to make it the best it can be.”
M. Shadows, however, insists that the clip is not true stating on Twitter, “Literally walking in the streets of Mexico and listening to this. What the actual f-ck … NOT ME!”
A form of artificial intelligence used to render fictional images and audio, deep fake technology is able to use the technology to create sentences that may seem like a specific person and is sometimes used to create audiobooks or help those unable to speak.
So far, neither of the festivals have commented on the matter with Avenged Sevenfold. However, M. Shadows added that the band would be “getting to the bottom of this.”
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