Culture & AI
How Erling Haaland Became AI-Powered Fan Fiction—and Why No One Minds
As deepfake memes of the footballer circulate by the millions, a shift in celebrity culture emerges: audiences now shape stars as living characters, with or without the real person's involvement.
WIRED — AI
A deepfake video of Norwegian striker Erling Haaland eating in a restaurant went viral last week with over 31 million views. Except it wasn't him—it was a slapstick comedy bit by Chinese creator Jin Long. Yet even after fact-checkers debunked it, the clip kept spreading. By the fourth week of the 2026 World Cup, the internet had settled on a version of Haaland that barely depends on reality anymore.
The New Celebrity Is an Open-Source Character#
Stardom used to demand total control: celebrities jealously guarded their image. Today's version operates differently. A figure can become so vivid, so endlessly remixable, that AI essentially completes the work for superfans. The person with the face becomes loosely tethered to what's made in their name.
Haaland's deepfake didn't emerge in isolation. In China, where he's become a meme fixture, he's spent months fronting commercials for herbal drinks, attempting Mandarin, and spawning fan songs. Chinese audiences rechristened him Habao—"Ha Baby"—delighting in the gap between his on-field ferocity and off-field charm. He launched Douyin and Weibo accounts and quickly amassed millions of followers. The restaurant clip was one artefact in an entire ecosystem of AI Haaland memes, all riffing on the same running joke.
When Deepfakes Become Beloved Fan Content#
Modern sports fandom has shifted. Athletes are no longer just highlights and post-match quotes; they're evolving fictional characters with quirks and story arcs. Research from AI sports firm WSC Sports found that Gen Z feels more connected to individual athletes than to teams, while consulting firm Oliver Wyman identified social media athlete content as the single largest driver of Gen Z sports engagement.
Once an athlete becomes a character, the line between canon and fanon blurs. Fans no longer passively consume; they synthesize. AI lets audiences generate new material to fill gaps the real person leaves. The deepfake doesn't need to be authentic—it just needs to fit. And remarkably, a meaningful share of viewers knew it was fake, yet shared it anyway.
This pattern has precedent. The @deeptomcruise TikTok account posted eerily perfect Tom Cruise deepfakes in 2021 to delighted millions. An AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd track from 2023 was streamed enthusiastically before labels intervened. The fooled the internet in 2023—but the outrage was dwarfed by praise for the coat itself. Suspension of disbelief, it turns out, is a feature, not a bug.
