William Shatner is sending a warning to his fans not to believe everything they read.

Shatner, 95, took to social media on Thursday, April 2, sharing a series of screenshots of AI-generated reports making false claims about his health.

"I wanted to put this out yesterday but given the day and the possibility that it would look like a joke I waited for today," he captioned his post. "There is a page on Facebook that is using AI to create horrible fake news stories about me."

The Star Trek alum continued, "They have created stories that say I have stage 4 brain cancer, was in some kind of fight with Erika Kirk and that I'm dying. All their stories are monetized. Most of the stories use an AI image of me."

According to Shatner, Meta, Facebook's parent company, has been unhelpful in getting the fake stories taken down.

"None of these stories are true but they apparently seem genuine enough for fans to repost them across social media and send messages of support to me and my family all while the culprits behind the account make money," he added. "This is the downside of AI and yellow journalism. While [AI] can be a wonderful tool in the right hands; it can be used as a weapon in the wrong hands."

In a follow-up post, Shatner shared a recent photo of himself to "prove" his health.

"The people who are ill are those that are spreading these ridiculous stories," he wrote. "I'm fit as a fiddle. You don't have to worry. This is getting insane."

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A couple of years ago, I was scrolling through Instagram when I came across a video of Selena Gomez talking about her partnership with Our Place, the brand of non-toxic cookware, known for its popular Always Pan and Perfect Pot. In the video, she was talking about how they had an oversupply issue with the cookware so to offload some of the excess inventory, she was giving hundreds (thousands? I don't remember) of pieces of cookware away for $10.

Now, I consider myself a pretty savvy consumer of media but I have to admit: Not once did I question the veracity of the video. Sure, my first thought was, "This sounds too good to be true …" Ding, ding, ding! This is often the first sign of a scam. But the video was so good, looked and sounded exactly like Selena that it never really occurred to me to believe it wasn't her.

Looking back, that's terrifying. Thankfully I wasn't in the market for new cookware because otherwise, I might have fallen for that too-good-to-be-true offer. I'd like to think I wouldn't have but again, that's how good the video was.

Apparently, I'm far from alone when it comes to brushing up against online scams in the form of deepfakes. According to a report from McAfee, a company specializing in consumer online protection, scammers are using celebrity deepfakes at record speed … and millions of people are falling for them.

According to McAfee, the report is based on an online survey conducted in August 2025 of 8,600 adults age 18+ across Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom and the celebrity and influencer rankings were produced using a weighted scoring system that combined social activity, search activity and media reports; those inputs were banded to reduce skew from outliers and rolled into a final score to identify the most "dangerous" celebrities and influencers online.

McAfee's Most Dangerous Celebrity: Deepfake Deception List reveals that 72 percent of Americans have seen a fake or AI-generated celebrity endorsement online. And this year, Taylor Swift ranks number one as the most exploited celebrity in online scams. That means her face, voice and name are the top targets for AI-powered hoaxes designed to trick fans into clicking, buying or sharing personal information.

And it's not just Hollywood. McAfee also released its first Influencer Deepfake Deception List, crowning streaming superstar Pokimane as the most impersonated creator globally.

Why Scammers Love Celebrities (Maybe More Than Their Fans Do!)

Deepfake technology used to feel like science fiction. Now it's powering some of the most successful online scams and, according to McAfee, they work for one simple reason: people trust familiar faces.

McAfee says scammers use celebrity images, cloned voices and fabricated posts to promote free giveaways (36 percent), weight-loss supplements (30 percent), skincare and beauty products (27 percent), crypto or investment schemes (26 percent) and tech gadgets (25 percent).

And it's working. Nearly 4 in 10 Americans (39 percent) have clicked on a fake celebrity endorsement, often before realizing anything was off. Those who lost money reported an average financial hit of $525. Men are more likely to click on these scams (45 percent compared to 32 percent of women) and overall confidence is low, with only 29 percent of Americans feeling "very confident" in their ability to spot fake content.

The Celebrities Most Likely to Be Deepfaked

The McAfee study also asked Americans which celebrities they see most often in fake or AI-generated endorsements and the list shows just how wide-reaching this problem has become. Elon Musk topped the rankings, followed by Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and MrBeast. The top ten also included Kylie Jenner, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson. These are some of the most recognizable public figures in the world and scammers lean heavily on that familiarity, using their star power to make fake promotions feel instantly believable and click-worthy. I can personally attest to this.

Taylor Swift: The Perfect Storm for Scammers

Taylor Swift's enormous influence and fiercely loyal fanbase make her an irresistible target for scammers. In the past year alone, cybercriminals have pushed fake limited-edition merch tied to major headlines, AI-generated "leaked" videos, urgent giveaway posts and voice-cloned messages urging fans to click or buy.

Some deepfake tools, even mainstream ones, can generate explicit content resembling Swift, raising major concerns about both privacy and safety.

Influencers Are the New Front Line

And it's not just celebrities being targeted. Forty-four percent of Americans say they've seen AI-generated influencer endorsements.

Pokimane, the number-one most exploited influencer, has been at the center of multiple high-profile deepfake incidents, including non-consensual explicit videos and a catfishing scheme where a streamer lost thousands of dollars believing he was speaking with her.

As McAfee's Chief Marketing Officer Stephanie Fried explains: "Celebrity and influencer culture has always shaped what people buy, but now it's shaping how criminals run their scams."

Why This Matters for Every Consumer

Deepfakes aren't rough around the edges anymore. They're clean, convincing and engineered to trigger emotion: urgency, curiosity, exclusivity or fandom. And with 97 percent of Americans using social media, scammers have an enormous audience and endless opportunities to deceive.

How to Protect Yourself from Celebrity Deepfake Scams

According to McAfee, here are simple, effective steps to stay safe:

1. Be skeptical of giveaways. Celebrities rarely give away expensive products through random ads.

2. Double-check official accounts. If a celeb or influencer is promoting something major, it will appear on their verified social channels.

3. Scan videos for telltale deepfake signs such as stiff facial expressions, off lip-syncing, strange lighting, or robotic speech.

4. Avoid clicking suspicious links. Scammers rely on quick, impulsive taps.

5. Use scam-detection tools. McAfee's AI-powered Scam Detector analyzes videos, texts, and emails to flag deepfakes or phishing attempts before you interact with them.

6. Trust your instincts. If something feels off, slow down and verify.

Deepfakes aren't just an internet novelty anymore; they're a fast-growing scam industry. Even savvy scrollers are getting fooled. With financial losses climbing and confidence in spotting fakes still low, staying informed is one of the best defenses.

Celebrities and influencers aren't the criminals, they're victims, too. Their likenesses are being hijacked without consent and now it's up to consumers to stay alert and think twice before they click. So stay skeptical. Stay aware. And when in doubt, double-, even triple-check everything before you buy, share or sign up.

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In 2022, Star Trek lost one of its greatest icons. Nichelle Nichols played Uhura on The Original Series and continued to play this character over the course of six films. She was a Civil Rights legend whose work on the original Trek was praised by none other than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Thanks to her awesome performance, Uhura became a pop culture legend, one who has since been portrayed by two other talented ladies: Zoe Saldaña and Celia Rose Gooding. Sadly, Nichols passed away a few years ago of heart failure. At the time, fans had no reason to be suspicious about her death, especially because she was 89 and already suffering from dementia.

However, last year, Nichols' family sued the Gila Regional Medical Center for wrongful death. In a statement to local Albuquerque, New Mexico news station KOAT, the family's attorney, Lisa Curtis, alleged that "didn't do cardiac work on her. Instead, they discharged her home. She died seven hours later." At the time, it was unclear whether the lawsuit would be successful. However, the family won a bittersweet victory and was recently awarded $13 million after winning the case.

Her Harrowing Final Hours

Fair warning, Star Trek fans: the final hours of Nichelle Nichols are pretty bleak. She was already suffering from dementia and a heart condition. When her heart began acting up, she was taken by ambulance to Gila Regional Medical Center. What she was experiencing appeared to be the symptoms of acute heart failure. However, the Nichols' family attorney, Lisa Curtis, told KOAT that "They put her in an observation unit" instead of doing cardiac work on her or having her transferred somewhere else (like "Las Cruces, where they have cardiologists on staff"). Curtis alleged that Nichols was simply discharged and sent home, where she died seven hours later.

The family's lawsuit was successful, and thanks to a recent verdict, they will be receiving $13 million dollars. It reportedly took the jury only a couple of hours to determine that the Gila Regional Medical Center was guilty of negligence. The lawsuit also determined specific levels of liability for different parties involved. One of Nichols' doctors was found 60 percent liable, while another doctor was found not liable at all. As for GRMC, they were deemed 40 percent liable for the case involving this Star Trek icon's death. This represents a major victory for Nichols' son, Kyle, who pointed out that if a major celebrity could receive negligent treatment, the same could happen to anyone.

While this verdict may bring closure to Nichelle Nichols' family, it will likely not do so for her legions of Star Trek fans. At the time of her death, most of the fandom thought that her passing was just an inevitable (if obviously sad) consequence of old age and deteriorating health. Now, this lawsuit has brought up the uncomfortable possibility that she might very well still be alive if she had received better medical care when she needed it the most. However, grieving fans may want to follow in her son's footsteps and do their best to create something that Nichols convinced us all was possible: a better tomorrow.

Captain James Tiberius Kirk is one of science fiction's greatest leaders, as well as one of its greatest characters. A firm but fair man, he embodies the futuristic ideal of a man in the 1960s. Not afraid to work with other races or creeds, and telling the audience that there's always something out there to learn. Despite his legendary status, it's surprising then that there's only been a handful of actors to play Captain Kirk officially. Even in the animated series from the '70s, the original cast reprised their roles.

Kirk was cemented as a favorite once Shatner starred in six "Star Trek" movies and "The Next Generation" movie, "Generations." with Chris Pine taking over the role in 2009. Paul Wesley currently helms the captain's chair of the Farragut as Kirk, making sporadic appearances in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'" more dramatic episodes. Two other actors should be included, too, but you won't see much in the way of fan projects here. This is all the actors who have officially played Kirk, ranked by their impact on the franchise. Yes, even the little kid who appeared for three minutes gets a mention.

Read more: 6 TV Shows That Are So Good, I Wish I Could Wipe My Memory And Enjoy Them Again For The First Time

5. Jimmy Bennett

He's in the movie for all but three minutes, so unfortunately, little Bennett (now 30 years old) gets placed last here. Yes, he's in a great sequence in the best "Star Trek" movie (according to Rotten Tomatoes), where a young Kirk steals a car at the start of the movie, but it's not like he inhabits the role in any meaningful way. It's the beginning of the movie, it's the foundations being laid to introduce a new audience to this fresh take on Captain Kirk. We're sure Spock would agree it's logical to include him in the list, but he's not impactful enough to really talk at length about.

Bennett's role might be short, but he does help with cementing the energy that the Kelvin version of "Star Trek" introduced. That said, Bennett's career has slowed a little bit since 2017, with his last few major roles including Mojo in the Amazon cop show, "Bosch." He starred in an episode of "Pachinko" on Apple TV+, but since then, no actor tracking site seems to have much information about him since 2024. His presumed Instagram last posted something nearly 20 weeks ago, and nothing since.

4. Sandra Smith

In the final episode of "Star Trek: The Original Series," "Turnabout Intruder," Kirk and an ex-lover swap bodies as she tries to take over the Enterprise. Played by Sandra Smith, Dr. Janice Lester switches with Kirk, tries to kill him, until the strangeness of the possessed Kirk starts a mutiny. While Shatner entered overdrive in the episode, with even more exaggeration than usual, Smith was a little more subdued.

It's an odd episode and hasn't aged especially well. One of Lester's reasons for overtaking the ship is that she believes that her career was scuppered due to sexism. The body swap was meant to get her into that position, kill Kirk, who broke her heart, and wipe her gender out. What could have been an episode focusing on the gender inequality themes winds up becoming a bizarre experiment of watching Smith try to emulate Shatner, while Shatner emulates Shatner playing a woman in a man's body.

Outside of it being an episode where there's another actor playing Kirk, "Turnabout Intruder" was the last episode before the show was canceled. Lester hasn't appeared much in "Star Trek" media since, with a brief mention in the IDW comic, "Focus on... Star Trek," as Kirk makes future plans. Smith, herself retired in 1975, but is remembered as being the only other actor to play Kirk before 2009's reboot.

3. Paul Wesley

Appearing in "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," a prequel series set 10 years before "The Original Series," it follows the previous Enterprise captain, Pike. In a few of the episodes, Kirk makes an appearance, with his first in episode 10, "A Quality of Mercy." Wesley's take on the younger Kirk is that of someone who already has experience in Starfleet. While Pine's Kirk was bouncing off the walls, Wesley's Kirk is much calmer, focused, but with an air of cockiness about him.

As the show progresses, Wesley begins to fall into the role even more, with the early reactions from some online being taken back as the show hit its Season 3 finale. Presumably, as "Strange New Worlds" edges ever closer to the fate of Pike (being burnt and confined to a machine), fans will begin to see more of Wesley's Kirk in the yet-to-air Season 4.

This said, Wesley might not be exactly Shatner, but the demeanor and on-screen presence as the show allows him to progress in the role is quickly shaping him to be one of the better non-Shatner Kirks. However, it's unlikely you'll see much of Wesley's take on Kirk outside of "Strange New Worlds," as there's currently no in-production "Star Trek" TV shows for the first time since "Discovery" aired.

2. Chris Pine

A victim of the hand being dealt, Chris Pine's take on Captain Kirk in the 2009 reboot of "Star Trek" is a high-energy, flanderization of the original character, just as the rest of the movie exaggerates the entire cast and story. Kirk, known to be a ladies' man, is now less suave chauvinist and more bed hopper. In the first movie, it works pretty well, rejuvenating a franchise that'd sputtered out, but by the time it gets to "Into Darkness," a pseudo-remake of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," it borders on grating.

Pine is a fine actor, but his Kirk is influenced by a studio or director's need to make anything but an actual entry in "Star Trek." There are some emotional moments that try to mimic a fraction of what Shatner put into the work, but it never slows down for Pine to expand on outside of the incredible pace at which the first two movies are set. It isn't until the third movie, when Simon Pegg got hold of the script that Pine's Kirk resembles a somewhat normal modern take on the character.

He's still flanderized, but significantly less so than the first two films. It helps that a majority of the movie feels like a faster-paced episode of a modern "Star Trek" series, helmed by people who genuinely understand the franchise, rather than someone trying to make competition for "Star Wars." Pine will presumably never take up the role again, as the next movie in production has no real date attached to it, if Paramount is even interested in reviving the Kelvin timeline after spending years reworking the main one.

1. William Shatner

Actors will come and go, but there will only ever be one true Captain Kirk. Shatner cemented himself as the best, regardless of the quality of his acting compared to the rest of the cast, as he fully inhabits the role through the on-screen chemistry with his crew. Everything that a "Star Trek" captain should be, from the way they talk and behave, stems from William Shatner. Addressing the crew as "Mister Spock" or "Mister Sulu" was inherited by Picard and Janeway, while his more forward approach to situations can be clearly seen in Commander Sisko.

Unlike the other two adult actors who have taken on the role, Shatner was also an expert in the quieter, more thoughtful moments. When Kirk takes command of a situation, you believe it. However, despite the macho bravado that J.J. Abrams' reboot heightened, Shatner's Kirk was very much intertwined with the rest of the crew. Those on-screen relationships and the chemistry between Kirk, Bones, and Spock are unparalleled, even by the superior "The Next Generation."

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