Bad Lip Reading is a YouTube channel created and operated by an anonymous producer who produces comedic content by intentionally misinterpreting the lip movements of video clips. Rolling Stone described the channel as a notable success during the 2012 United States presidential cycle. As of March 2025, the channel had over 8.13 million subscribers and more than 1.5 billion video views. Some of the channel’s original songs are available on streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. The channel’s content typically involves taking scenes from films, television shows, or real-life events, replacing all original audio with foley sound effects, and dubbing the clips with invented dialogue crafted to match the subjects’ mouth movements, without concern for accuracy. In musical contexts, Bad Lip Reading produces new songs based on the original tempo and vocal rhythms of music videos, altering melodies and creating lyrics that reflect the performers’ lip movements rather than the original lyrics. The first Bad Lip Reading video was a parody of Rebecca Black’s "Friday," titled "Gang Fight," released in March 2011. This video featured new music and lyrics that made it appear as though Black was singing about gang warfare, earning a million views and attracting subscribers. Subsequent videos included reinterpretations of The Black Eyed Peas’ "Boom Boom Pow," Taylor Swift’s "Our Song," and Michael Bublé’s "Haven't Met You Yet," the latter transformed into "Russian Unicorn," which Bublé praised. In September 2011, Bad Lip Reading expanded to political figures, beginning with Texas governor Rick Perry, which led to media coverage and increased popularity. The channel later featured lip-readings of President Obama, and Republican presidential candidates including Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. In November 2012, the channel began producing overdubbed versions of popular films and television series, including "Twilight," "The Hunger Games," "The Walking Dead," and "Game of Thrones," with videos such as "Carl Poppa" receiving public recognition. In January 2013, the channel released a lip-reading video of National Football League players, coaches, and referees, which became its most popular video. Subsequent NFL videos were released annually before the Super Bowl. The producer has noted that the concept of lip reading first came to his attention through his mother, who lost her hearing in adulthood. Bad Lip Reading has received awards including the 2013 Webby Awards’ People’s Voice Award for "Comedy: Long Form or Series" and the 2014 American Comedy Award for Best Viral Video for "NFL: A Bad Lip Reading." In December 2015, the channel released Bad Lip Reading versions of the original Star Wars trilogy, featuring guest voices from Jack Black, Maya Rudolph, and Bill Hader. The Empire Strikes Back video included a song called "Seagulls! (Stop It Now)," which later reached number one on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks chart. The channel also produced "Bushes of Love," a musical number from the Star Wars parodies that reached number two on the same chart. Mark Hamill publicly praised the channel and collaborated on a Bad Lip Reading version of "The Force Awakens." Other projects include half-hour adaptations of "High School Musical" and "Descendants" for Disney XD, a 2017 Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump’s inauguration, the 2018 "Royal Wedding" video, the 2019 "Chocolate Lagoon" parody of "Shallow" from the 91st Academy Awards, and the 2019 "My Stick" Star Wars sequel. In July 2022, the channel released a five-part reinterpretation of the musical "Hamilton," titled "Axe-Assassin Albertson," which included original songs with nonsensical lyrics and spoken word scenes, accompanied by a 10-song album released on 17 July 2022. Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of "Hamilton," publicly shared and endorsed the project.