From his football-pad shoulders to his covered face to his seemingly increased height, Kanye West looks different than he did a few years ago, some are arguing.
The monthslong speculation about West’s new look, combined with the celebrity’s own statements about being replaced, has fanned the flames of the theory that West has been cloned.
The Kanye West clone conspiracy
A recent viral TikTok from Oct. 11 shows the conspiracy is alive and well.
In a video with 6.3 million views, TikTok user @itsmorganfr makes her case for the theory.
“There are way too many red flags for something not to be going on,” she said.
@itsmorganfr What do yall think is he the same person hes always been? #kanye #theyclonedtyrone #balenciaga ♬ Spooky, Quiet, Scary Atmosphere Piano – Bucyrus Audio
She references West’s response to the controversial Balenciaga ad campaign in November 2022, in which child models held stuffed animals wearing BDSM harnesses.
West spoke out in a video that celebrities did not speak out against the ad campaign because they are controlled by Balenciaga and other forces that control the world—an antisemitic dog whistle.
“All of these celebrities out here, don’t let them influence you in any way, because they’re controlled by the people who really influence the world,” West said at the time.
In another video filmed around the same time, the TikTok explains, West referenced a list of people, such as his mother and Michael Jordan, who have been “sacrificed.”
“Around Hollywood, a lot of people come up missing,” he said.
After his controversial statements, West received a text from “fitness trainer” Harley Pasternak, which he posted a screenshot of on Twitter, now X.
“Second option, I have you institutionalized again where they medicate the crap out of you, and you go back to Zombieland forever,” part of the text reads.
Following the text, West talks to the paparazzi in another video, where he insinuates that if he were to disappear, it would be on Pasternak’s watch.
“If I ever went anywhere, we’d know why,” West says.
In December, West reportedly disappeared from public view.
The next month, West returned to the public eye and was captured in several photos with new girlfriend Biana Censori. However, according to TikTok user @yeyeezuus, West has significantly different physical features than he did prior to his public retreat, including a differently shaped nose and mouth.
@yeyeezuus maybe the photos were just edited idk #kanyewest #ye #clone #foryoupage #fypシ #strange #viral #foryou #kanyewestcloned ♬ Kerosene – Crystal Castles
@itsmorganfr notes a difference in the West’s height. While West is supposedly 5 feet and 8 inches tall, he appears taller than Censori, who is also apparently 5’8”, even when she is wearing high heels.
@itsmorganfr points out that fans have noticed that in recent videos of West performing, he doesn’t appear to have the tattoos on his arms that he once had.
“It’s as if he’s the Great Value Kanye,” she says, pointing to a recent photo of West and referencing Walmart’s food and grocery brand. “And the old Kanye was the name brand.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @itsmorganfr via TikTok direct message.
Since going public with Censori, West has not spoken much publicly and was seen shopping at Balenciaga, behaviors that are counter to West’s behaviors and statements prior to 2023, @itsmorganfr argues.
West’s own comments about cloning have led to further spread of the conspiracy. In a video of him freestyling, West raps, “Watch how they cloned me.”
@conciousmb Kanye Says He Got ‘Cloned’ In Freestyle.. 😳
♬ original sound – Conscious & Aware 👁☀️
While @itsmorganfr focuses on what she believes is recent evidence to support the conspiracy that West has a clone. But internet sleuths have argued this theory for years—and have used it to support other conspiracies about celebrity clones.
Where did the clone conspiracy come from?
Originating in 2015, the West clone conspiracy began when satirical news site Waterford Whispers News published the story “Kanye West Announces Plans to Clone Himself,” drawing on West’s apparent narcissism.
The conspiracy gained traction the following year when West dyed his hair blonde and began vocally supporting President Donald Trump following the general election. Around the same time, West canceled his tour and was hospitalized after a “psychiatric emergency.”
From there, Twitter users speculated that because of the stark shift in behavior from West, he must have been cloned. As he continued to exhibit erratic behavior, theories of West being cloned or replaced survived and spread, even by industry peers such as Nick Cannon.
West vs. Elon Musk
West is not only the subject of cloning conspiracies in the past; he also perpetuates them.
Two days after West was suspended from Twitter on Dec. 2 for posting an image of a swastika, West made an Instagram post about Musk, among other celebrities, implying the tech mogul was a clone.
“Am I the only one who thinks Elon could be half-Chinese?…Take a Chinese genius and mate them with a South African super model and we have an Elon,” he wrote at the time.
Musk’s father is a South African engineer, and his mother is a Canadian-born model.
“They probably made 10 to 30 Elon’s and he’s the first genetic hybrid that stuck…” West added.
Why is this conspiracy still around?
West made headlines recently after it was announced that he and Ty Dolla $ign were shopping studios for their new album. Some major labels decided to allegedly pass on the album in response to West’s repeated antisemitic comments.
West and Ty Dolla $ign have pushed back their album release date, which was originally scheduled for Oct. 13.
But interest in West’s cloning conspiracy mounted for weeks before the album announcement. Actors and influencers appear to be taking advantage of recent chatter about the lookalike conspiracies to gain attention.
Actor Baron Jay fooled East Coast crowds by dressing as Kanye West crashing parties and posing for pictures. Taylor Swift lookalike Ashley Leechin dressed up as the pop star and walked around a mall in Los Angeles, confusing and drawing attention from shoppers.
Today’s internet culture has also created a climate in which conspiracy theories thrive.
While the West clone conspiracy was originally perpetuated by a fringe internet user, those fringes have recently become larger. Recent years have seen an uptick in online activity by far-right groups such as QAnon, which have spread erroneous theories about celebrity deaths and zombie outbreaks caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.
The history of celebrity clone theories
Celebrity cloning theories have existed on the internet long before West.
In 2011, Brazilian blog Avril Está Morta popularized the theory that Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne died in 2003 following the release of her album Let Go and was replaced by a woman named Melissa Vandella as a way for Lavigne’s record label to continue to profit off the singer.
Believers in the conspiracy noted differences in Lavigne’s appearance between performances from 2003 and 2004 and beyond.
Even decades before the internet, celebrity replacement theories circulated. In 1969, some claimed that Beatles singer Paul McCartney died in 1966 in a car crash, and with the help of British intelligence, was replaced with a lookalike.
McCartney, aware of the “Paul is dead” conspiracy, released a live album in 1993 called Paul is Live.
With over 50 years of history, celebrity cloning conspiracies are unlikely to go away any time soon. As long as West continues to appear in headlines, especially ones that underscore changes in appearance or behavior, these theories will likely stick around.
