Fake AI Video of ESPN's Holly Rowe Goes Viral After Texas Game; Arch Manning Apologizes for Laughing

A fake, AI-generated video of ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe went viral after Texas beat Ohio State on September 12, and Texas quarterback Arch Manning has apologized for laughing at it.

The fabricated clip falsely depicts Texas coach Steve Sarkisian striking Rowe. Nothing of the kind took place. What actually happened, according to ABC News, is that Sarkisian answered Rowe's postgame question with "Texas fight. Hook 'em" and abruptly walked off after Texas beat Ohio State 24-23 in Austin. That brief exchange went viral on its own, KSAT reported, and the AI-generated version followed.

Manning pushed the fake much further. Asked at a September 14 press conference whether he had seen social media edits from the game, Manning brought up the AI clip, laughed and said "It's hilarious," per ABC News and CBS Sports. A reporter's video of that answer had been viewed more than 20 million times by the morning of September 15, CBS Sports reported. CBS Sports also said the fake clip itself drew many more views after Manning mentioned it.

Manning apologized on his Instagram story on September 15. "There is nothing funny about it," he wrote, adding that he wanted to apologize to Rowe specifically for what she had dealt with because of his comments. Rowe replied publicly on X: "Apology accepted." She said the two had spoken privately. The reporter who first posted Manning's answer also apologized for how he presented it, according to NBC News.

One date is inconsistent across reports. ABC News, CBS Sports and NBC News all place the press conference on September 14, the day before the apology. A bracketed note in the report from KSAT, a San Antonio station, places it on September 15, the same day as the apology.

Who Made the Fake Sarkisian-Rowe Video? Nobody Has Said

None of the four reports reviewed for this article identifies the person who made the clip or the AI tool used. CBS Sports attributes it only to an unnamed social media user. SLOP TV has not viewed the clip and will not guess at the tool; nothing on the record supports naming one.

The order of events is the instructive part. A real, brief sideline moment went viral after the September 12 game. A fabricated version was circulating widely enough within two days that a star quarterback had seen it and treated it as a joke in front of cameras. His reaction then became a bigger story than the clip, and by CBS Sports' account sent more viewers to the fake.

That suggests fabricated sports clips may travel fastest when they attach to a moment people are already sharing. It also shows how a public figure can be pulled into a fake without making or posting it. Rowe and Sarkisian had no part in the clip, and Manning only described it.

The Association for Women in Sports Media said in a statement that Rowe "exemplifies the professionalism and integrity" the group supports, and urged teams to remind players and staff that normalizing violence against women is not acceptable, ABC News reported.

For creators, the catch is plain. A realistic clip that puts a real person in a violent act they never committed may not be read as parody once it leaves its original context, and the people depicted bear the cost. Whether the clip broke the rules of whatever tool produced it cannot be known while the tool is unidentified.

As of September 19, no report reviewed here has named the clip's creator or the tool used, and Sarkisian is not quoted on the fake video in any of them.