"Weird Al" Yankovic turned down an AI commercial
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Patron saint of integrity, "Weird Al" Yankovic declined "a nice pile of money" to star in AI ad
For "Weird Al," it's still all about the pentiums, and the beloved parody artist bowed out of a commercial after learning what the product was.
Matt Schimkowitz -->
By Matt Schimkowitz |<br>June 29, 2026 | 10:50pm
News<br>News<br>"Weird Al" Yankovic
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Unlike the wanna be hackers, code crackers, and slackers wastin’ time with all the chatroom yakkers, "Weird Al" Yankovic has integrity. He’s the type of guy who defrags his hard drive for thrills, doesn’t read spam, and is pretty open about not wanting to be the "poster boy for AI." Speaking to Syracuse.com ahead of a stop on his "Bigger & Weirder" tour, Yankovic made it clear that he’s "not a fan of AI," and he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is. Before leaving for tour, he was offered a "nice pile of money" to star in a commercial for what he was told was "business software that would increase productivity." What they neglected to tell him was that the product was for AI. "Then a week before we’re supposed to shoot it, I find out, oh, this is, it’s AI," Yankovic says. "And I thought, ‘Oh no, I can’t be the poster boy for AI, forget it.’ So I felt bad about kind of pulling out at the last minute. But yeah, I’m not, I’m not down with that."
Overhyped emerging technologies do tend to prey on artists looking to make a "nice pile of money." Last year, Adam Ruins Everything star Adam Conover nearly ruined his credibility after briefly becoming a self-described "crypto shill" to hock OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s Orb, which, assuming this thing still exists, pays users for biometric data via retinal scan while also confirming their humanity. More recently, Timothée Chalamet squandered his "I want to be one of the greats" goodwill by starring in a widely rejected ad for Kalshi prediction markets. For Al, though, it really is all about the Pentiums, the price of which are skyrocketing thanks to the AI bubble.
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