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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Black Wall Street Times is issuing a full retraction of a previously published article titled: “AUDIO LEAK: Oklahoma Dem Party candidate says Black Tulsans lack ‘qualified leadership’.” Our team has confirmed the audio clip was fake after a thorough review and forensic analysis. It was an AI-generated deepfake, not an authentic recording. We got this one wrong!
TULSA, Okla. — Just days before the Oklahoma Democratic Party Convention, a political storm erupted over a controversial audio recording. The voice in the clip sounds like State Rep. John Waldron making racially charged remarks about Black leadership in Tulsa; it was a fake AI.
Advanced Tools Expose Deepfake Targeting Democratic Candidate
In response to widespread concern, The Black Wall Street Times launched a multi-layered review to determine the recording’s authenticity. After a thorough investigation using several advanced tools, the audio has been confirmed as fake. This finding raises urgent concerns about political misinformation and the weaponization of artificial intelligence. It also highlights digital manipulation of narratives ahead of Sunday’s state leadership vote at the local and state levels.
Among the tools used was Resemble.ai, a leading forensic audio analyzer that claims an accuracy rate of over 90% in detecting synthetic voices. Resemble scanned the audio clip and returned a high-confidence result: AI artificially generated the voice in question.
In addition, our internal team also conducted an acoustic and waveform analysis of three separate audio clips. The first two featured realistic pacing, subtle breath sounds, and emotional tone variation—traits that often signal genuine human speech. Analysts flagged both clips as synthetic, meaning AI created them—they were not actual recordings of Rep. John Waldron speaking.
The third clip stood out even more clearly: its flat tone, absence of breath patterns, and uniform cadence aligned strongly with known markers of AI-generated audio.
These findings point to a sobering reality. Deepfake audio has advanced so much that fake clips can mimic real speech and fool even trained listeners. As generative AI becomes more accessible, political disinformation campaigns are entering a dangerous new era.
Waldron, Andrews Respond to Deepfake With Call for Unity
State Rep. John Waldron is running to replace Alicia Andrews, the first Black woman to lead Oklahoma’s Democratic Party. The use of deceptive fake AI audio to undermine a political campaign threatens the democratic process.
“As a former history teacher, I see this as a learning opportunity on the perils of politics in an age of AI. I am very grateful to The Black Wall Street Times for retracting this false story. This only shows that we need to work harder to build a truly transparent and unified culture in the Oklahoma Democratic Party,” Rep. John Waldron told The Black Wall Street Times.
“I am appreciative of real journalists who seek to find the truth. Additionally, I am relieved to learn that Rep. John Waldron, who I’ve known for years, would not say such things,” Current Oklahoma Democratic Chair Alicia Andrews told The Black Wall Street Times.
The Oklahoma Democratic Party will hold its election on Sunday, June 29, in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
Too bad you didn’t verify it before publishing a fake post. Also too bad you didn’t name the source of the fake recording.
John Waldron would never, ever make such a statement. I’m surprised you even considered it authentic for one second.
I cannot express the disagreement I have for the party as a whole and with the paper for not validating it before printing anything. I had hoped members of our party were better than that. Do better Dems!