The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has responded to a viral AI meme depicting him at 10 Downing Street, in the midst of Labour’s leadership crisis.
The video sees a younger Hawkins – donning a spandex catsuit – walking behind Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who is the Labour candidate for the upcoming Makerfield by-election.
“Are you gonna take control of this mess that Keir’s in?” the AI Hawkins sings as he plays electric guitar, before Burnham enters Number 10.
The clip also features former Health Secretary Wes Streeting amid his pitch for Labour leadership. Streeting resigned from government last week after saying he’d lost confidence in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Starmer has defied calls from dozens of his MPs to step down as PM in the wake of poor results in the recent local elections. However, no candidate has yet to launch a formal challenge against Starmer, per BBC News.
The AI post contains deepfakes of Starmer, Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband, too.
In a recent video on his YouTube channel, titled ‘Get Your Hands Off My Face, Mother……’, Hawkins responded to his likeness being used in two satirical clips. The second meme sees him sing “I believe it’s the end of Labour!“, a nod to The Darkness’ hit ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’.
“This is fucking abysmal,” the frontman said in response to the spoof, which you can watch below.
He continued: “I didn’t give my permission to appear in any political content, and it’s not something I’ve ever done or will ever do. I think, perhaps more importantly, I was never asked if it’s OK to use my likeness. And for the record, it certainly fucking isn’t.”
Hawkins went on to note that “in the UK it’s not illegal to use deepfake technology, unless the images are explicit and shared or made without the person’s permission”.
He added: “So it was certainly shared without the person’s permission. It’s not explicit, unless you include the nipples.”
The musician then asked whether enough was being done to crack down on deepfakes and AI content, saying: “There have been a lot of campaigns to ensure that art and identity are protected.”
Hawkins mentioned the non-profit organisation Artist Rights Alliance, which shared an open letter in 2024 titled ‘Stop devaluing music’ – signed by the likes of Billie Eilish, Robert Smith and Stevie Wonder. He also referred to last year’s ‘silent album’ project to protest UK copyright AI laws.
Speaking about Jack Antonoff’s recent post about AI music makers being “godless whores”, the frontman told viewers: “I think he makes some points that are worth repeating.” He then read out segments of the letter, including the part Antonoff said he’d “never been looking for this work to become quicker or easier”.
Hawkins said: “I think I agree with the sentiment, all in all. Is [AI] harmless? No. I don’t think it is. Does it matter? Yes. It does matter.”
The singer later explained that he wasn’t “commenting on politics”, but rather “making the point that it’s not fucking OK” to use someone’s likeness in such a way without consent.
“If you’re gonna make a deepfake of me, at least make me look like me after I’ve done a bit of exercise,” he joked. “I don’t think they’ve chosen what I consider to be golden era Justin Hawkins. And that’s not what bothers me – it’s not vanity, it really isn’t.”
He shared: “I don’t wish to be aligned with any political movement at all.”
Discussing the use of AI in music more broadly, Hawkins said: “You could use AI and put three albums out a year – they’d all be shit. They really would. Well, they’d be average at the very most.
“One in every one million prompts on AI will throw something up that’s worth exploring, but it won’t be important, and it won’t matter. Unless it’s something that speaks to or is informed by the human condition. There’s absolutely no point in it, whatsoever.”
He concluded: “AI is shit, and I think that’s all I have to say on the matter.”
Hawkins joked in the comments section that the AI clips had depicted him with his “former teeth and no 8-pack”.
In March, figures from the UK music industry responded to new government action on AI and copyright, but argued that much more needed to be done.
Meanwhile, The Darkness are set to embark on a big UK arena tour next December in support of their 2025 album ‘Dreams On Toast’.
Speaking to NME about the upcoming dates late last year, Justin’s brother and bandmate, Dan Hawkins, said: “Even close friends of mine who come to every London show sigh if the tour is in spring or early autumn or whatever, because they consider coming to see The Darkness play in December as part of their Christmas build-up. Those are my best friends saying that, and not necessarily the biggest Darkness fans.”
He continued: “We’re just part of people’s festive period, and we’ve got quite a few Christmas songs. As you’ve seen today, we can break into pretty much any one… and do a pretty bad job!”