The video was a deepfake. It was made using genuine footage of Hathaway on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" in January 2015 — a clip that was deceptively edited to make it seem like she made the "69" joke in reference to the sex position. In reality, Hathaway was talking about her 2014 film, “Song One," and they both laughed uncontrollably after she described a number of plot twists in the movie.
In August 2023, a video clip supposedly showing actress Anne Hathaway and comedian Jon Stewart laughing over a raunchy joke went viral. The clip, which seemingly originated on TikTok, showed Hathaway telling Stewart a "69" joke in reference to the sex position, Hathaway delivering an explicit punchline, and then both celebrities laughing uncontrollably together.
Hathaway appeared to ask, "What is 6.9? A good thing ruined by a period."
The video was a deepfake. Hathaway never said those words on camera with Stewart.
The term "deepfake" refers to an image or video that was created with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI). We have encountered many examples in which a person's mouth was edited to it seem like they said something fictional, like in Hathaway's case.
Using genuine footage of Hathaway on "The Daily Show with John Stewart" in January 2015, an unknown person or group used AI software to edit Hathaway's lips and add fabricated audio to make it seem as if she made the joke — when, in reality, she was discussing a recent acting role. For that reason, we rated the video at the center of this claim Fake.
We came to that conclusion by comparing the viral clip to the real footage of Hathaway's January 2015 appearance on the "The Daily Show." Available on Comedy Central's website, that unedited video did not show Hathaway making the "69" joke but rather discussing the plot of the 2014 film "Song One," in which she played a leading role. As she shared the movie's premise, Stewart burst out laughing and she started laughing, as well.
Their full exchange can be viewed here. Hathaway said:
Hathaway: I play a young anthropologist getting a Ph.D. in Morocco. Something happened to her when she was a teenager that made her grow up, really, a lot, too fast. So she became an adult very quickly, very young. And so she never kind of explored any part of her artistic side. And then her little brother, who is 19, calls her up and says, 'I am dropping out of college to become a musician,' and she doesn't react very well. And they hadn't spoken for six months, and then he gets hit by a car and gets in a coma.
[THEY BOTH LAUGH]
Hathaway: That is my Facebook update [LAUGHTER]. And then the movie starts. And then there is music [...]
Stewart: Your brother's in a coma, that is true.
To learn how to identify deepfakes on social media, check out our tips. Oftentimes, the way people move their mouths will indicate whether the footage is real or not. Snopes previously noted:
In many cases, a deepfake will be used to make it seem as if a person said something that they never said. In order to do this, creators will take existing footage of a person talking, swap out the audio, then manipulate the appearance of the person's mouth in an attempt to make the movements match the new fabricated script.
We have covered a number of stories in which a mention of "69" — regardless of its accuracy — resulted in instant online popularity. Rumors about the number often go viral due to its allusion to the sex position, and people finding it funny.