This Sunday, after reportedly having a seizure at Chicago’s Midway Airport, the 21-year-old artist known as Juice WRLD (born Jarad Anthony Higgins) was transported to a local hospital. Soon after arrival, Juice was pronounced as dead, though his cause of death remains unknown.
On TikTok and on Reddit’s r/Conspiracy, however, the circumstances of Juice’s mysterious death are fueling new conspiracy theories. As reported by Insider, skeptics think the rapper and singer is still alive, having faked his own death as he predicted. Their biggest evidence is a 2017 tweet in which Juice wrote, “My goal is to get overly famous, shine for a couple years..then fake my death.” Juice quickly gained prominence after the release of his sleeper hit “Lucid Dreams” in May 2018, the timing of which gives this tweet particular resonance.
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On TikTok, fans are now analyzing Juice’s lyrics for other evidence that the artist might actually still be alive. A TikTok by user @seamusgarvin, with three million likes as of this writing, points to a line in Juice’s song “Legends” that says “What’s the 27 club? / We ain’t making it past 21.” The alleged circumstances of Juice’s death also bear similarity to a viral TikTok meme started before Juice’s death in which TikTok users dance to “Lucid Dreams.” Participants in that meme then stop mid-dance to pretend to have a seizure by convulsing and spitting out water. These references have been mirrored by other users casting suspicion on Juice’s death.
TikTok users have also referenced Juice’s “All Girls Are the Same,” in which he sings “I’m a jealous boy, really feel like John Lennon.” As they point out, John Lennon died on December 8, the same date as Juice’s death. According to another TikTok user, a flight tracker suggests that Juice’s private plane never went to Chicago and actually landed in the Bahamas instead. Another user claims to have called the hospital where Juice was admitted and was told that nobody with the name Jarad Anthony Higgins was admitted.
Several threads discussing the theories have since appeared on Reddit as well.
Per Insider, some people who don’t buy into the fake death theory think that the “eerily prescient” TikTok seizure memes might have instead “manifested” Juice’s death.
With Tupac conspiracy theories still floating around two decades after his death, it’s unlikely that these new conspiracy theorists will find the validation they need anytime soon. And with Juice’s death so recent, the speculation—just like the “Lucid Dreams” fake seizure dances—feels a tad callous, especially when it takes the form of viral TikTok videos.
