Summary: A repulsive new trend is sweeping Instagram—and it’s not just a case of poor taste. Creators are generating AI videos portraying Black women with primate-like features, dubbing them “bigfoot baddies.” The racism isn’t subtle, and the technology is enabling a new version of an old type of dehumanization. This isn’t about edgy humor—it’s about building an audience by exploiting racial stereotypes, and it’s racking up millions of views.
AI as a Racial Weapon: The “Bigfoot Baddie” Trend Explained
Social media creators have started deploying Google’s Veo 3 AI video generation tool in a disturbing new way: fabricating short videos that depict Black women as animalistic, exaggerated figures. These videos often feature distorted facial features intended to evoke primitive stereotypes from colonial-era propaganda. They label them “bigfoot baddies,” mash them together with fake street scenarios or hostile behaviors, and pump them out onto Instagram—where they go viral.
These clips aren’t just niche content. They’re cropping up everywhere on Instagram’s Reels feed, with some of them gaining well over a million views in under 30 days. And it doesn’t stop there: some creators are now selling $15 tutorials showing how to replicate the same format using Veo 3. This isn’t just content creation—it’s manufacturing digital blackface for profit.
Why This Isn’t Satire—It’s History Repeating Itself
To call what’s happening “problematic” is to miss the point. This is racism with high resolution and advanced AI tooling. According to Nicol Turner Lee, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution, these portrayals tap directly into a long-standing tradition—where racist caricatures of Black people, particularly women, were used in literature, theater, and visual media to paint them as hypersexualized, criminal, or less than human. AI just gave these tropes new lighting and smoother animation.
This isn’t innocent humor or ironic meme culture. It’s legacy racism running code in the background of the newest tech. Wrapped in fake street language and absurdist visuals, the messaging is still the same: Black women are less than human. That’s not edgy. It’s weaponized content dressed as shareable entertainment.
Why Are These Videos Going Viral?
The viral success of this trend follows a clear pattern. First, it’s visually absurd and exaggerated—exactly the dopamine hit Instagram’s algorithm likes. Second, it plays into existing racial biases baked deep into online humor. Combine that with the low barrier to entry of AI tools like Veo 3, and you’ve got a recipe tailored for scale.
One question needs to be asked: who benefits from this? The answer is straight marketing math. Morally bankrupt creators pull traffic. Instagram keeps users scrolling. More watch time means more ad dollars. And until platform owners feel reputational risk—or economic loss—this content isn’t going anywhere.
What Role Does Meta Play—And Why Their Silence Matters
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has avoided going on the record about these videos. That silence says more than a press release ever could. When your platform hosts racist content—and your silence enables it—it’s called complicity.
This issue doesn’t just show a policy gap. It exposes a strategic choice not to interfere with lucrative viral cycles. Instagram’s algorithm is trained both by human behavior and corporate values. If it’s boosting this trend, it means somewhere in the backend, engagement is winning over dignity.
The Role of AI Companies: Can Google Wash Its Hands Clean?
Google’s Veo 3 is a powerful tool in the hands of creators. But when it enables racism at scale, can the creators be blamed more than the toolmaker? It’s a familiar problem seen in tech before: move fast, monetize faster, regulate later—if ever.
We’re not talking about deep fakes or hyper-technical manipulation. This is prompt-based viral hatred made easy. Until tools like Veo 3 are built with serious safeguards—or held legally accountable—anyone with a warped sense of humor and a Wi-Fi connection can produce dehumanizing content in seconds.
The Bigger Risk Ahead: Normalized Dehumanization at Scale
What happens when millions of people watch and share these videos and don’t question them? What if the next generation sees these clips not as offensive caricatures, but just another meme format? That’s the real threat. These portrayals aren’t just mirrors—they’re molds. They don’t just reflect bias. They form it.
Experts warn that this is not an isolated blip. As AI becomes more sophisticated—and more accessible—marginalized groups will be the first targets. Racist satire becomes weaponized media. Awful jokes become political ammunition. What starts as “just a joke” eventually becomes justification for harm in real life.
So What Do We Do About It?
The AI content wildfire isn’t going to be stopped by a “terms of service” update. It’ll require real enforcement, technical boundaries, and cultural pressure. Social platforms need to stop hiding behind neutrality while their systems reward racism. Tech companies need ethics teams with teeth—not just whitepapers. And audiences need to start asking whose humanity gets traded for social validation.
Until there’s real cost—legal, financial, or reputational—there will be more courses teaching people how to make the next viral offense. The market won’t self-correct if the clicks keep flowing. And the burden will fall, once again, not on the platforms that profit—but on the people targeted and dehumanized in the name of content.
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Featured Image courtesy of Unsplash and Markus Spiske (TNnbF6EgXAE)
