First, they claimed Avril Lavigne died in 2003 and was replaced by her body double, Melissa Vandella. Now, they’re saying Eminem died in 2006 only to be replaced by an android clone. Say what?

Though the whacky conspiracy theory surrounding the iconic rapper has been making the rounds online for a couple of years now, it’s recently gained traction again after LADbible looked at when and where it all started. And because we love debunking online myths and conspiracy theories, we took a closer look at it too.

They're already doing it in enterntainment. They definitely replaced Dave Chapelle.

I'm 99% sure they replaced Eminem with either a clone or a cyborg.

— Bowtied Gracie (@BowtiedGracie) July 28, 2022

The rumours all started when fans noticed a change in Eminem’s voice over the years. Though LADbible made a point of highlighting that “singers and rappers experience a change in voice over the years due to a number of factors, including ageing and strain,” the publication clearly underestimated the power of online conspiracies.

After all, it was only in mid-July 2022 that fans on TikTok started speculating about Harry Styles being bald and the proud owner of a very convincing wig…

Anyway, back to Eminem, real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III. Shortly after netizens decided his change in voice was due to the rapper’s death and eventual ‘replacement’, Spanish website La Guía Del Varón decided to pour even more fuel on the fire by calling him an “android clone” and claiming it knew exactly how and when he had died: in a car accident back in 2006.

“In 2006, Eminem died in a car accident,” the newspaper allegedly reported. That was all fans needed to start analysing the rapper’s slight change in appearance over the years, with many pointing out a huge change in his jaw shape and overall facial structure.

“Yeah I believe he is a clone it doesn’t even look like him anymore and his eyes are dead,” one fan wrote, as stated by LADbible. Ageing was never even part of the conversation—and then came the lyrics.

The theory points out that since 2006 (which is, remember, when he supposedly died in a car accident), the rapper has made significant changes to his lyrics and that his sense of fashion has also changed—adding that he now puts “a great emphasis on the hip hop lifestyle” and has changed to a “much darker” style.

Up until this point, it can be assumed that only tin foil hat wearers and hardcore fans truly believed in this crazy and unfounded story. But then Eminem himself led more and more conspiracy theorists to flock to the tale.

In 2013, footage of Eminem ‘glitching’ on a live ESPN report began circulating, which was hyped once more in 2016 when rapper B.o.B posted a series of cryptic tweets claiming that human cloning had been around for years.

Then in 2019, Canadian-American rapper, songwriter and former professional wrestler—don’t ask—Tom Macdonald released the music video for his track ‘Cloned Rappers’, which sent believers of the theory into a frenzy, since Macdonald can be heard claiming in his song that “Illuminati took bone samples to clone rappers” and then put the real beings in prison to “silence their vision.”

“If they can’t control you they erase the old you,” he continues in the song, before listing some of the names he claims have been cloned including the likes of Gucci Mane, Kodak Black and, of course, Eminem.

As unfounded and fr-fetched as this theory sound, many continue to defend their belief in it, with one Twitter user trying to bring another ‘proof’ to back the claims:

Eminem’s clone couldn’t recall the former rapper’s pinnacle era. Seems everyone can recall it and have high regards on it except the clone. pic.twitter.com/LzrOapx0WC

— The Profound Sphincter 🍏 (@iLLuminaughty_G) July 26, 2022

And honestly, how can we blame said believers? After all, we live in a digital age where QAnon followers are building a thriving community while TikTok users try to prove that snow is a government conspiracy…