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Diplo has found himself embroiled in a beef with Austin-based musician Zack Telander and it is not going well for him. In fact, with each passing day Diplo seems to get bodied further and further.
The catalyst behind all of this are comments made by Diplo last month on Daniel Wall’s podcast where Diplo praised the use of artificial intelligence in music. His full quotes are below, but Diplo saying ‘I don’t need anybody to sing the song anymore’ because he can use AI struck a chord with many.
Why Is Diplo Trolling And Beefing With Zack Telander Over AI Use In Music?
Among those who took exception to Diplo’s comments on AI and not needing humans anymore to make his music is Zack Telander, a musician/runner/lifter/hybrid athlete who spoke out against it. In response, Diplo commented in a reply to Telander and wrote “but don’t worry!! you will still be able to play dive bars!! can never be a degenerate alcoholic! only humans 👏 👏”
That’s a pretty aggressive comment even between close friends but total strangers? That is absolutely uncalled for. Sure, it could have ended there if all the parties went their own way but Zack Telander posted this Instagram Reels in response to Diplo’s comment:
Diplo’s Full Comments On AI
Taking a step back real quick, here are Diplo’s comments on Daniel Wall’s podcast from back in mid-April. That full interview can be watched here on YouTube if you would like more context. But these are the quotes about AI use in music that have not sat well with the artistic community.
Diplo: “You’re not going to win. There’s no fighting AI. You have to just work your best to be the best at it right now. You’re wasting your time. You’re wasting a year being like ‘aaahhhh’ because everybody else is going to just use it and not give a f— what you think.”
Diplo: “I don’t even need a voice anymore. I can get the best voice from AI. I don’t need anybody to sing the song anymore. I’ve had some voices that I’ve made with AI, and I’m like, ‘damn, I couldn’t even get this take out of the best singer.’ I wouldn’t have said that to you three months ago. But the way it’s changed in the last three months, the advances on the music side are just like, f—…”
In response to the clip of Diplo praising artificial intelligence and the removal of actual living, breathing humans doing the artistic creation. Diplo had this to say on X (formerly Twitter):
Diplo: “If you are a creative you need to adapt or just like give up and become an Iber driver until everyone has a Waymo. I know it’s not cool or classy to speak like this but I’m not gonna candycoat the future, it is what it is. Sorry for bad news my purist. There will always need a human mind and touch because AI will never suffer from bipolar disorder and autism like me and other creative people.”
Now that we are all caught up, let’s revisit the beef!
In an Instagram Reels posted 5 days ago, Telander shared that Diplo was back in his comments section and posting a GIF of troll dolls, an obvious reference to trolling. Zack acknowledges that under every possible scenario, Diplo will win this back and forth. That Diplo, real name Thomas Wesley Pentz, makes between $300K-$500K per gig.
Zack goes on to say “this actually makes a lot of sense. This guy makes life-changing money weekly. The only thing that gets in his way is the actual art. So of course he’s interested in generative AI slop.” He goes on to add “the parts of artistry that mirror the soul and the intent of your heart, those are the parts that he can’t quite optimize. And those are the parts that are the least important to him.”
Ouch. That’s quite the burn.
Surely their beef ended there? Nope!
Diplo is an accomplished runner. He has ran marathons on LSD. I covered that here. Diplo also hosts a huge run club. It’s awesome! He gets people outside living healthier lives. You love to see it.
But he appears to have weaponized it in this argument without realizing that he was beefing with an incredibly fit athlete. Diplo commented on one of Zack Telander’s posts in the past few days saying “let’s just settle this at run club.” Presumably, the implication from Diplo is he’d smoke Zack on the road.
Zack Telander responded to Diplo’s latest trolling attempt with this:
At this point, we have to winder why Diplo is so obsessed with this Austin-based musician, who inhabits an entirely different genre, is an accomplished lifter and athlete, a father, and clearly intelligent and witty enough to come out on the winning side of this trolling back and forth for as long as Diplo wants to keep it going. Why is he punching down? The best only punch up. What gives?
This back-and-forth has gone so far that Zack was getting coffee the other day and his barista had seen the videos and recognized him and had comments about Diplo’s thoughts on AI. For something like this to make it off social media into the real world is wild.
Let me know what you think is happening here in the all-new BroBible comment section down below!