A white influencer has admitted to editing her face onto a black influencer’s body as she blamed AI for the bizarre post — but the model whose photo she altered isn’t buying the excuse.
The social media controversy erupted when Lauren Blake Boultier, a content creator with more than 1.6 million followers, shared a photo suggesting she attended the Miami Open last month.
Social media users quickly pointed out the image actually appeared to be taken at the US Open in New York City — and belonged to African-American model Tatiana Elizabeth, who had originally posted the snap in 2024.
The photo featured Boultier’s face edited over Elizabeth’s body. Boultier said the incident stemmed from a third-party AI content agency she works with.
“I want to address a recent post created by a third-party AI content agency I’ve been working with,” she said in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “It was brought to my attention that an image posted utilized the work and likeness of a Black creator in a way that is entirely inconsistent with my values,” she wrote.
“I take full responsibility for what appears on my platforms,” Boultier added, saying she had removed the post and privately apologized to Elizabeth.
“I will have more oversight with my agency to ensure my content is handled with the integrity and respect it deserves moving forward. I am deeply sorry for the hurt this has caused the original creator and the community at large.”
Elizabeth, however, doesn’t believe Boultier’s apology was genuine.
Speaking to TMZ, the model accused the influencer of trying to move past the controversy without taking real accountability.
“I don’t think it’s coming from a sincere place,” Elizabeth said. “I think she just wants the situation to blow over and to get back to scheduled programming.
“I don’t think she was honest. I don’t think she is authentic in her apology. I think she’s just saying what she thinks she needs to say in order to move past this,” she added.
Elizabeth said she does not condone the online harassment directed at Boultier, but argued the backlash was a direct result of her actions — particularly after she tried to shift the blame on her team and AI.
Earlier this week, Elizabeth posted a TikTok as she broke down the similarities between her original US Open photo and Boultier’s version.
Both images showed the same courtside setting at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, an identical outfit, pose and a matching wrist tattoo — with only the face altered.
Elizabeth said she attended the US Open after being invited by Serena Williams, calling it a significant career moment she earned through years of work in the modeling industry.
“That was a very exciting experience for me, and I think that historically, Black women have been copied, we’ve been used as an inspo, all these things, and we don’t get our due respect or our credit,” she said.
“I’m working ten times as hard as a Black woman to be able to be in these spaces, and you get to just take that in an instant?” Elizabeth added. “I don’t think that’s ok.”
The strange scandal also highlights a growing trend online, where AI tools are used to create “virtual influencer”-style content by placing fabricated or altered faces onto real people’s bodies.
That practice has become more common across platforms like Instagram and TikTok, as AI-generated and heavily edited personas gain traction with audiences.
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