There's a new conspiracy theory gripping people online--and for once it's harmless, as well as hilarious.
Some fans of pop star Katy Perry think the singer is a robot after a video clip from her Las Vegas residency captured an "eye glitch."
During a recent performance, Perry appeared to have had some kind of twitch in her eye that briefly made it impossible to stay open.
After massaging her temple briefly it seemed she'd gotten the twitch to stop, and then carried on with the show without so much as a passing reference. See the moment in the TikTok below.
@katyperrytv Visit TikTok to discover videos!
So what is going on here? As we've already covered, she's a robot who glitched. Obviously! Or as one TikTok commenter put it:
“That b*tch is a robot omg we been knew."
At least, that's what fans began saying in a torrent of social media jokes that erupted after the incident. So much so that the TikTok video of the moment has racked up nearly 20 million views since being posted Monday.
Hilarious theories explaining Perry's "glitch" abounded. Some fans suggested she lost her WiFi connection, while others called it a "mechanical failure" remedied by Perry obviously pressing a "button" on the side of her head to get her eye back online.
Another particularly funny commenter chalked it up to a malfunctioning Perry clone. They wrote:
“Clone failure. Next time make sure all software is updated and make necessary patches.”
Of course these are all just jokes and nobody truly believes Perry's a robot. But, like clockwork, conservatives have blamed Perry's "glitch" on--you guessed it--her having been vaccinated for COVID-19.
In a video, far-right commentator Chad Prather claimed:
"Katy was talking about getting the vax, and look, she can't open her eye."
Twitter is also full of jokes about Perry's biggest hit being a non-existent song called "Eye of the Pfizer." We truly live in the dumbest timeline.
Anyway, people on social media have been having a lot of weird fun with Perry's very strange moment.
\u201c@OTerrifying It happens. Just needs some fixing.\u201d— OddIy Terrifying (@OddIy Terrifying) 1666784640
\u201c@OTerrifying her MK ULTRA programming was buffering a little\u201d— OddIy Terrifying (@OddIy Terrifying) 1666784640
\u201cWhy is Not EVERYONE talking about the @katyperry eye glitch malfunction!? Freaking bizarre. \n\nWe want answers Katy.\u201d— Sara Eliza (@Sara Eliza) 1666758126
\u201cWTF did I just see?\nKaty Perry looked like she forgot to turn on her eye.\nhttps://t.co/JnsBP9CYPU\u201d— Isreal Perez (@Isreal Perez) 1666608988
\u201cKaty perry has a button on her face that opens her eye\u201d— RYAN \u2708 (@RYAN \u2708) 1666632716
Others had more legitimate theories about what was going on with Perry, like that she's had too much botox.
\u201c@OTerrifying Botox: "Clostridium botulinum is a bacterium that produces dangerous toxins (botulinum toxins) under low-oxygen conditions. Botulinum toxins are one of the most lethal substances known. Botulinum toxins block nerve functions and can lead to respiratory and muscular paralysis."\u201d— OddIy Terrifying (@OddIy Terrifying) 1666784640
Or that she maybe used too much eyelash glue...
\u201c@OTerrifying Too much lash glue she\u2019s not a bot \ud83d\ude2d\u201d— OddIy Terrifying (@OddIy Terrifying) 1666784640
Or that it was simply part of the show, which includes a themed segment centered on toys, including those old-school dolls back in the day that had blinking eyes that would get stuck.
\u201c@OTerrifying I saw it on TikTok, someone said her tour was based around her being like a toy doll, hence the eye, as some of the old dolls used to get one eye stuck shut\u201d— OddIy Terrifying (@OddIy Terrifying) 1666784640
Or that it was marketing for a rumored forthcoming video in which she plays a robot.
\u201c@AreOhEssEyeEe I saw it posted yesterday\u2026 I read through all of the comments on that tweet until I found a video of an upcoming video that she\u2019s going to do where she\u2019s a robot, she has that same looking Eye that doesn\u2019t quite work \u2026 I\u2019m pretty sure she\u2019s doing it just for publicity\u201d— \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6Unacceptable CanadianGirl\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6TrudeauMustGo\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 (@\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6Unacceptable CanadianGirl\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6TrudeauMustGo\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6) 1666742285
If you want to do your own research, get a plane ticket to Tokyo--Perry's Las Vegas residency ended this past weekend, but continues in Tokyo next month. Someone has to get to the bottom of this!