The English Football Association has initiated its own inquiry following the circulation of a video on social media that seemingly depicts a Premier League referee making derogatory remarks about former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

David Coote has been suspended by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the organization responsible for overseeing English referees, which is also conducting an investigation.

An English FA spokesperson informed The Associated Press on Tuesday, "We are aware of the matter, and we are investigating it."

In the footage, an individual believed to be Coote is heard using an expletive to describe Klopp, expressing a reluctance to engage with someone he perceives as "arrogant."

While it remains unverified whether the video has been altered, the PGMOL is proceeding under the assumption that it is authentic, according to a source familiar with the investigation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Professor Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at the University of California, Berkeley, stated that there is no indication the video is a deepfake.

He examined the video with models designed to differentiate between real and AI-generated voices and images.

"This model finds no evidence of AI generation," he noted, emphasizing that there were "no obvious visual artifacts in the video to suggest that it is AI-generated."

Klopp departed from Liverpool at the conclusion of the last season and was succeeded by Dutch manager Arne Slot.