In a script that’s becoming unpleasantly familiar, conspiracy theorists have seized upon actor Anne Heche’s tragic death, claiming she didn’t die from a car crash but rather was murdered.
Heche was taken off life support and pronounced dead on Sunday after being involved in a fiery car crash in which her vehicle slammed into a home in Los Angeles nine days before. A toxicology report found she was high on cocaine at the time of the crash.
Videos by VICE
But that didn’t stop conspiracy theorists from saying on social media that she was murdered because of films she had starred in that focused on some of their favorite topics, the pandemic and child trafficking.
One theory that’s being peddled is that Heche was killed for her role in the film Toxic Skies, about a conspiracy to purge the population with a fake pandemic. The film was originally released in 2008.
In the QAnon world hyper-focused on pedophilia, people have focused on her upcoming film that’s reportedly about human trafficking—saying she was trying to inform the world about the pedophilia of the elites and was murdered before she could. Despite this theory, the film is still slated to be released.
“She was Clintoned,” one person wrote simply about Heche’s death.
Like some sort of dark trend, some TikTok creators are uploading videos of themselves calling her death into question—using footage from the scene that shows Heche sitting up in a stretcher before being put into an ambulance as evidence the crash didn’t kill her.
“I’m mean I’m no conspiracy theorist, but it seems like people in Hollywood that work in sex trafficking films end up dead,” said one TikToker. Another simply posted the footage with the caption, “she knew too much!!!”
Four of the top six videos recommended on TikTok when you search her name are conspiracy videos.
On the livestreaming site dlive, creators focused entire streams on the subject. Conspiracy theorists on Rumble or Telegram, sites with lax moderation, are even spreading misinfo about Heche’s death to try to recruit followers.
“Anne Heche’s video shows the actress was just fine after the accident, trying to escape the body bag. She was killed for exposing the pedos and this video shows it clearly,” writes one bot on Telegram spamming chats. “Join the expose Bill Gates group to expose them all.”
While celebrity deaths have long been the subject of conspiracies—think Elvis—it’s been intensifying in the internet age and the pandemic. Almost all recent celebrity deaths are now the subject of conspiracies. For example, the deaths of Bob Saget, DMX, and Betty White were seized upon by anti-vaxxers eager to blame deaths on the COVID-19 vaccination.
Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter.
