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Obviously the ‘Avril Lavigne is dead’ conspiracy theory has already become a meme
God I love the internet
If for some reason you haven’t been on the internet in the past 48 hours – perhaps you’re having a social media detox or you’ve run out of data or you’ve retired to a small cabin in the woods where there’s no signal and you can hide from the true every day horrors of modern life – then you’ve missed a lot.
Firstly, Avril Lavigne is now dead.
OK well not technically dead. But there’s a huge viral conspiracy theory that says she has, and it’s resurfaced over the weekend and it’s everywhere. You can read all about it here.
While the conspiracy theory isn’t new – it’s been floating around since as far back as the prehistoric times of 2012 and had a huge moment in 2015 – its resurgence is largely down to social media oracle/truthseeker @givenchyass who posted the original challenge to Melissa Vandella’s empire of lies “Avril Lavigne is dead and has been replaced by a lookalike: a thread”.
And obviously, because this is the internet, a self-referential web of pseudo humour where nobody is quite sure what’s real and what’s not and what’s funny, it’s become a meme. Here are some of the best:
https://twitter.com/frankarlas/status/863942092573245440
https://twitter.com/cockaine_/status/864133931318231040
And my personal favourite: