Denise Fergus, the mother of James Bulger, has expressed her outrage at TikTok creators for producing fake videos featuring her son talking about his murder. Fergus described the AI-generated videos as “disgusting” and “beyond sick.” The family has been deeply affected by these videos, which depict a two-year-old James discussing his brutal murder at the hands of 10-year-old perpetrators Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. Fergus is now pleading with TikTok to remove the AI footage.
Numerous clips on TikTok show animated children recounting their “stories,” with several accounts dedicated to this content. The videos include other victims such as Madeleine McCann, Baby P, and Rhys Jones. Some of these videos have garnered tens of thousands of views without any content warnings.
Fergus, 55, expressed particular distress over a video that seems to closely resemble a photo of James, with his lips moving. In this clip, James introduces himself, recounting details of his abduction and murder in 1993. Many of the TikTok videos feature James’ avatar near train tracks, where his body was discovered.
Fergus stated, “It is one thing to tell the story, I have not got a problem with that. Everyone knows the story of James anyway. But to actually put a dead child’s face, speaking about what happened to him, is absolutely disgusting. It is bringing a dead child back to life. It is wrong.”
She emphasized the need for the removal of all such content, not just James’ videos, as this affects all parents who have lost children or loved ones. Fergus called out the disturbing nature of these videos and questioned the mindset of those who create them.
Denise’s husband, Stuart, first became aware of these videos earlier this year. He initially believed it was an isolated incident but started receiving messages from friends and family who had also seen them. Stuart reached out to one of the producers, who appeared to be based in the Philippines, requesting the deletion of the videos. The response received stated that the intention was not to offend, but rather to raise awareness and prevent similar incidents from happening again.
Stuart reported the videos to TikTok but has not received a response. He believes that companies like TikTok should be held accountable for allowing such content to circulate on their platform without consequences. TikTok has claimed to have taken down several videos and stated that they do not tolerate disturbing content. However, some of the videos in question still appear to be available on the app.
