The English Football Association has launched its own investigation after a video, widely shared on social media, appeared to show a Premier League referee making offensive comments about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
David Coote has been suspended by the governing body of English referees, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), which is also investigating.
“We are aware of the matter, and we are investigating it,” an English FA spokesperson told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
In the video, a person who appears to be Coote repeatedly uses an expletive when describing Klopp, adding that he did not want to speak to someone who was “arrogant.”
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It has not been confirmed if the footage was manipulated, but the PGMOL is treating it as if it was genuine, a person with knowledge of its investigation told The AP.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment.
Professor Hany Farid from the University of California, Berkeley, specialises in digital forensics and said there was no evidence the video was a deepfake.
He analysed the video using models trained to distinguish real from AI-generated voices and faces.
“This model finds no evidence of AI generation,” he said, adding there were “no obvious visual artefacts in the video to suggest that it is AI-generated.”
Klopp left Liverpool after the end of last season and was replaced by Dutch manager Arne Slot.
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