Video Shows How the Viral Finger-Painting of Morgan Freeman May Have Been Faked

Last week, a video showing how a hyper-realistic iPad finger-painting of Morgan Freeman (inspired by this portrait by photographer Scott Gries) came together made the viral rounds faster than most. It had already earned its first million hits in the first 12 hours, and currently sits at almost 11.25 million.

But along with that fame came an outcry, and the word people were crying out was “fake!” People claimed that the portrait was just too close to the original to be a finger-painting — or any other type of painting for that matter — and that Lambert must have imported the photo into the Procreate app and then worked backwards, making it seem less and less realistic as he went and then uploading the video in reverse.

As proof of concept, YouTube user Blake Neubert put together the above video using the same program. “I enjoyed the original video as much as the next person, though it did leave me wondering. I tried it myself.” writes Neubert. “It’s all in good fun. I’m not trying to start any arguments or offend anyone.”

Keep in mind, we’re not saying that Lambert did fake it. He has thus far stuck to his guns, and his previously demonstrated talent as a digital artist is helping him to maintain credibility amidst all of the anger. Still, next time he decides to paint something this impressive, we have a feeling he’ll set up a camera over his shoulder just in case.