Artificial Intelligence has arrived like a cyclone to change the rules of the game. Users from all over the world create their own images to taste and measure, publish them on social networks and whoever sees them does not usually doubt their veracity. To this we must add the use of editing programs used for photographic manipulation. For this reason, every day you have to be more careful with this type of publication: what seems real may not be. The latest victim of photo editing has been the singer Rosalía (Sant Esteve Sesrovires, 30 years old). Social networks have not been slow to come out in defense of the Catalan artist to criticize a photograph in which she appears showing her breasts.
There is nothing real in that image published on the night of Monday, May 22. The photo is fake. It has been edited and retouched by the Sevillian singer Juan Manuel Cortés Reyes, artistically known as JC Reyes and who has collaborated with other musicians such as Quevedo. The artist shared on his ephemeral Instagram stories —in which he accumulates 255,000 followers, and going up— an explicit photo of Rosalía topless: In it, the singer appears with her bare chest sticking out of a fluorescent green shirt, while her nipples are camouflaged with heart emoticons, trying to avoid censorship on this social network. Beyond the publication, JC Reyes implied that the two had maintained some kind of relationship and that it had been Rosalía herself who had given him that intimate photograph: “The best thing you will see today.”
After its publication, the followers of the Catalan came out in her defense and denounced the behavior of JC Reyes on social networks. Instead of apologizing and removing the image, the reggaeton player decided to do a live broadcast in which he justified his behavior. “To these women who are putting me: ‘What are you doing?’, ‘How disgusting you are’… The girl (Rosalía) can only see her cleavage. Respect, huh?” she commented, in a cocky tone. In addition, he confirmed that the image had been edited by himself with Photoshop and took advantage of the moment to promote his next musical release: “Wait for the next song, it’s called rosalia”.
The winner of two Grammy awards, 11 Latin Grammys and two Billboard awards has not taken long in defending himself through social networks: “Fetch clout (influence) disrespecting and sexualizing someone is a type of violence and it’s disgusting, but doing it for 4 plays of + what it gives is a shame” (sic). What the singer hints at is that the reggaeton player needs to promote her next single and that this is the easiest way to get visibility and talk about him. In fact, she has achieved it and she brags about it on her social media. On Wednesday morning, almost two days after publishing the image, JC Reyes uploaded a Stories of a capture in which it is seen that his name is the most searched for on Twitter and what is being talked about the most.
Going to look for clout disrespecting and sexualizing someone is a type of violence and it’s disgusting but doing it for 4 plays of + what gives is shame
— ROSALÍA (@rosalia) May 23, 2023
However, the disrespect towards the singer continued on the part of the Sevillian: “I can’t be uploading photos of the girl who sends me, that would be shameless”, to which he adds: “I was just expressing what I felt, it was not for you to get upset in that way” (sic). After receiving hundreds of reviews denouncing the publication of these edited images, the artist has decided to remove all published content. But despite not having left a trace, the digital footprint of the images has already gone viral on the platforms.
It remains to be seen if Rosalía takes legal action against the reggaeton player or everything remains a mere public complaint. JC Reyes could face a fine for spreading false nude content, since he violates people’s privacy. In fact, if it was a true image, he could be punished with one to three years in prison and a fine of 12 to 24 months. Again, a debate is opened on the use of editing programs and artificial intelligence and how these are a grievance for society.
