Tom Hanks as MLK Netflix Original

About

Tom Hanks as MLK Netflix Original is an AI-generated poster for an imaginary Netflix film or TV show starring actor Tom Hanks as Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK). The AI art image started a minor hoax that sparked unserious outrage about race swapping and added to the Netflix blackwashing parodies trend. The image spread across Twitter and Instagram, among other social media platforms, in late June 2023. The image was originally made with Midjourney and uploaded to a subreddit dedicated to the AI system earlier in the month.

Origin

On June 14th, 2023, Redditor eatabigolD posted to /r/midjourney^[1] an AI-generated image, presumably made with Midjourney, showing Tom Hanks as Martin Luther King Jr. in an imaginary, upcoming Netflix film or TV show (shown below). The post gained roughly 3,700 upvotes in 16 days.

Spread

Going into June 2023, the image spread on Reddit, such as in a post to /r/TheRightCantMeme^[2] on June 16th, 2023, which earned over 410 upvotes in 14 days. On June 28th, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @GDWRKARTS tweeted the image, writing, "This real?" and gaining over 710 likes in two days (shown below, left). On the following day, June 29th, Twitter^[4] user @Southside_Gunn uploaded a similar tweet that received more engagement, earning roughly 42,000 likes in one day (shown below, right).

The image was then reposted to Instagram^[5] and Facebook^[6] in the following days, going viral on each platform. Also, @Southside_Gunn's tweet^[4] inspired viral quote retweets and replies that furthered the overall, memetic response as it garnered increased attention.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References