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When DoorDash delivery<\/span> driver Livie Rose Henderson posted a video alleging that one of her customers sexually assaulted her in October, it set off a firestorm of reactions.<\/p>\n Henderson\u2019s TikTok<\/a> claimed that when she was dropping off a delivery in Oswego, New York, she found a customer\u2019s front door wide open and inside, a man on the couch with his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles. Henderson was dubbed the \u201cDoorDash Girl,\u201d and her video accrued tens of millions of views, including some supportive and consoling responses to what she said she had endured on the job as a young woman. Many others on the platform made commentary videos that called into question Henderson’s alleged victimhood, defended the customer, and spread misinformation, with TikTok\u2019s algorithm seemingly amplifying these \u201chot takes.\u201d Then, following Henderson\u2019s November 10 arrest\u2014she has been charged<\/a> with unlawful surveillance and the dissemination of unlawful surveillance imagery\u2014a new wave of reactions emerged. (Police have dismissed her sexual assault allegation.)<\/p>\n None of these responses came from Black content creator and journalist Mirlie Larose.<\/p>\n But Larose opened TikTok one day to find dozens of messages from friends and supporters alarmed by a video of her responding to the situation in favor of the customer and DoorDash\u2019s decision to terminate Henderson. (Henderson was fired for sharing a customer\u2019s personal information online, DoorDash spokesperson Jeff Rosenberg tells WIRED.) As Larose stared at the video in disbelief, for a split second she second-guessed herself as she became flushed with anxiety about the comment section \u201ctearing her apart.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid I film this?\u201d she asked. \u201cIt’s my face, it’s my hair.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen, within three or four seconds, I noticed something’s off. There’s no way I said this. I didn’t [want to] talk about this topic,\u201d Larose tells WIRED. The video had been AI-generated.<\/p>\n The situation highlights an increasingly common form of digital blackface<\/a>, buoyed by the rise of generative AI. The term, popularized by culture critic Lauren Michele Jackson<\/a>, describes various contemporary types of \u201cminstrel performances\u201d on the internet. This looks like the overrepresentation of reaction GIFs, memes, TikToks, and other visual and text-based media that use Black imagery, slang, gestures, and culture. TikTok\u2019s reliance on attention-grabbing short-form video content, coupled with apps like Sora 2, has made it far easier for non-Black creators and bot accounts to adopt racialized stereotypical Black personas using deepfakes. This is also known as digital blackfishing.<\/p>\n In the midst of the DoorDash\/Henderson controversy, users on TikTok began to notice two videos in particular: one from a bot account and another from an actual Black content creator parroting the same script. They adopted seemingly DARVO (Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender) positions, minimizing the allegations Henderson made and justifying her termination: \u201cI saw the original video posted by the DoorDash girl, and \u2026 I understand why DoorDash fired you and why you’re blocked from the app.\u201d The videos go on to say, \u201cAs for the guy, I can see why everyone is saying he did it on purpose. But when you look at the original video, that couch is not in eye view unless you angle yourself and look over, and if you really want to break it down, he\u2019s inside his house.\u201d In a statement<\/a> on Facebook, the Oswego City Police Department said the male was \u201cincapacitated and unconscious on his couch due to alcohol consumption\u201d and that the video was taken outside his house. Police also said they \u201cdetermined that no sexual assault occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n