Uvalde Foundation for Kids Calls for Boycott of Jim Acosta Following Exploitative AI Interview with Parkland Victim
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6 August 2025 (National)
Uvalde Foundation for Kids Calls for Boycott of Jim Acosta Following Exploitative AI Interview with Parkland Victim
The Foundation calls upon its supporters and the wider community to boycott Jim Acosta's future journalistic endeavors as a demonstration of solidarity with victims and a stand against the commodification of their unimaginable pain.
UVALDE, TEXAS – August 6, 2025 – The Uvalde Foundation for Kids today issued a strong condemnation and call for a boycott of journalist Jim Acosta, in response to his recent “interview” with an AI-generated avatar of Joaquin Oliver, a victim of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. The Foundation, established in the wake of the devastating Uvalde school shooting, expressed deep concern over the ethical implications and potential for exploitation inherent in such a journalistic approach.
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids was founded with a singular mission: to honor the memories of the victims of the Robb Elementary tragedy by actively working to prevent future school violence and to support affected communities.
While the Uvalde community, in its initial grieving process, briefly considered innovative tools to keep the memory of their lost children alive, the Foundation ultimately recognized that the use of AI in this context has the opposite effect, negating the profound severity of the loss and creating a media circus around an issue demanding solemnity and genuine human connection.
"The use of an AI recreation of a deceased child for a journalistic interview, regardless of the stated intentions, risks trivializing the immense grief and trauma experienced by victims' families and entire communities," stated a spokesperson for the Uvalde Foundation for Kids.
"While we understand the profound desire of families to keep their loved ones' memories and legacies alive, we believe Mr. Acosta has, in this instance, 'a costed' the situation by capitalizing on their grief without fully appreciating the inherent dangers and negative effects of such a spectacle."
The Foundation highlighted reasonings for its call for Boycott and several critical concerns regarding Acosta's interview:
* Negation of Severity: The Uvalde tragedy demonstrated the raw, devastating human cost of school violence. Reducing a victim to an AI construct, however well-intentioned, dilutes the very real and visceral pain of their loss, potentially desensitizing the public to the horror of such events.
* Ethical Quandaries: The journalistic ethics of interviewing an AI representation of a deceased individual are highly questionable. It blurs the lines between reality and simulation, potentially opening the door to misinformation and manipulation, and undermines the trust placed in media to report on human experiences authentically.
* Exploitation of Grief: While the Parkland victim’s parents may have consented to the creation of the AI avatar, the Foundation believes that a prominent journalist like Acosta, by engaging in such an interview, risks exploiting the deepest vulnerabilities of grieving families for content, whether intended or not. The profound desire for connection with a lost loved one can be leveraged in ways that do not ultimately serve the long-term healing or the true cause of preventing gun violence.
* Circus-like Atmosphere: School shootings are not entertainment. Creating a high-profile, novel "interview" with an AI victim risks turning a deeply somber issue into a curiosity, diverting attention from the systemic failures and policy changes desperately needed.
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids stands firm in its belief that genuine human stories, told by living survivors and grieving families in their own voices, are the most powerful and ethical means to advocate for change and to honor those lost. We urge the public and media outlets to consider the profound impact of such AI applications and to prioritize respectful, authentic engagement with the realities of gun violence.
The Foundation calls upon its supporters and the wider community to boycott Jim Acosta's future journalistic endeavors as a demonstration of solidarity with victims and a stand against the commodification of their unimaginable pain.
About The Uvalde Foundation for Kids:
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to ending school violence in all forms and enriching the futures of students across the United States. Established in response to the tragic Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the Foundation implements multi-faceted programs focusing on violence prevention, student advocacy, bullying prevention, and crisis response, working with schools and communities nationwide.
The Uvalde Foundation For Kids
254 499 8027
(Charity ID 88-3268749)
