Famous TV host and actor Mario Lopez turned what should have been a normal outing to a Los Angeles Dodgers game with his niece into an awkward social media controversy.
Lopez was being called a “creepy” uncle after using the Grok AI feature on X to create a fake video of his neice, Kalia Wong, eating multiple hot dogs in messy fashion.
Lopez then tweeted the video out to his 1.2 million followers on X, which led to a firestorm of online criticism.
Lopez posted an initial, real, video of himself attending the Dodgers game with his niece on his X account Sunday, while they were seated near the front row.
They both appeared excited to attend the matchup, but then the strange AI video tweet shortly followed, as many wondered if Lopez had posted it by mistake.
The AI video, which can be seen below, remained on Lopez’s X account for hours until he finally deleted it Monday. Still, it remained visible elsewhere on X due to screen recordings captured by other users.
Lopez’s niece is the child of his sister, Marissa, who is married to former NFL linebacker Kailee Wong.
Kalia Wong is currently 19 years old.
“He’s the type of uncle that can’t be trusted,” X user @exotikgoodz replied to Lopez’s AI post.
“They should arrest you for this,” X user @IcyVert added about the awkward video on Lopez’s account.
Lopez is perhaps most known for his acting role as A.C. Slater on “Saved By The Bell,” a sitcom that debuted in 1989 when Lopez was 15 years old.
Since then, Lopez has appeared in multiple TV shows, films and on Broadway.
Lopez, who is the father of three children, also posted the AI video of his niece eating hotdogs on his Instagram story before later deleting it, writing, “My niece is out of control!”
As of early Monday afternoon, Lopez did not address the controversy on his X account, although he did tweet out several videos.
In one of the videos, Lopez is seen throwing punches against air in what appears to be a boxing workout in a gym.
“Training for the ‘Can I date your daughter?’ interview…” Lopez wrote in the caption for his tweet.
The video also included the words: “I’m not training for fat loss or muscle growth. I have a daughter, I’m training for: ‘Bro, have you seen her dad?'”
It is his life, of course, but it might be a good idea for Lopez to embrace the “less is more” approach when it comes to using social media for the time being.
