Fact Check: No, Jelly Roll Is Not Getting A $3.5 Million Statue Outside Of Nashville’s Nissan Stadium

CMA Fest

If you saw “breaking news” that Jelly Roll is getting a statue outside of Nissan Stadium, I’m here to tell you that you got fooled by artificial intelligence.

AI is running rampant on social media right now. Either you are fully aware of that (since you are trying to keep your parents from falling for it) or you are the one that’s being fooled. Feels like as good a time as any to throw this legendary George W. Bush quote out, because it’s certainly applicable in the modern times:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me, you can’t get fooled again.”

He absolutely nailed that old saying….

What’s funny is that everyone know that’s not the old saying he was going for, yet some people can’t discern between the real and the fake on the internet. You certainly can’t believe everything you read online, and now with the introduction of the misinformation supplement known as AI, you really have to be on your toes.

Society has dubbed this sub genre of artificial intelligence as “AI slop.” And though most are able to recognize it as “fake news,” some others are falling hook, line and sinker for these fabricated news stories that are all brought together with some AI-generated images. Narrated videos often accompany the post, and if some talks over some pictures, it’s got to be true, right? (WRONG).

I can’t even begin to tell you how many I’ve come across as I’ve surfed the web… it’s truly concerning. The only thing more troubling to think about are the thousands of people that are watching and consuming these stories and believing them. With social media being the main source of news for a large amount of the population, these AI stories are being churned out with reckless abandon, and they’re actually gaining traction online.

Take this one for example. This AI news article was posted just a few days ago, and it’s already got thousands of likes and hundreds of comments. And the concerning part… most of the comments real that people are buying it.

The “breaking news” the story was revealing that Nashville leaders had approved a $3.5 million dollar statue of Nashville native Jelly Roll to be built outside of the Tennessee Titans stadium.

“BREAKING NEWS: Nashville Leaders Approve $3.5 Million Statue Honoring Jelly Roll Outside Nissan Stadium to Celebrate His Remarkable Journey from Struggle to Stardom.”

Couple of things should be easy to catch right off the bat.

First off, the “rendered image” of the statue is clearly made with AI… and it only features the upper torso of Jelly Roll. That’d be kind of weird, would it not? And I’ve also got to point out that the price point of $3.5 million is a tad steep for your run-of-the-mill bronze statue. On the low end, those cost around $5,000 to make. Even the high end ones usually comes with a price tag below $100,000.

The other thing to consider is… has Jelly Roll done enough to warrant a statue? And why would it be in front of Nashville’s football stadium? I’d just advice you to ask yourself a couple of questions when you see something online. If things seem a little fishy, they probably are.

Sadly, the comments these people left below the post make it seem as though they were duped by the AI post:

“Look at that Jelly Roll… isn’t he handsome and happy?”

“Well deserved Jelly Roll.”

“I think it is super cool but I think he would rather have the money go towards building a treatment center or maybe prison ministry or something.”

“A bit fast if you ask me… even though I love the guy.”

“3.5 million!? If y’all don’t pave some roads.”

Even though they fell for it… I do agree that Nashville needs to work on their roads.