A 1939 photo featuring a Jay-Z look-alike went viral this week, giving rise to many conspiracy theories about the rapper being either a time traveler, a member of the Illuminati, or a vampire.
The photo was unearthed at the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture at the New York Public Library last week. Taken by photographer Sid Grossman and titled "Harlem Loiterers," the image was posted on the library's Tumblr page with the caption, "Does the man on the right remind you of someone? Perhaps it was his great-grandfather taking a break in Harlem in 1939."
A dead ringer for rapper Jay-Z, a Brooklyn native, the man in the photo has sparked some crazy online theories. Some insist Jay-Z is a time traveler, and must have ventured back to do research for his many tracks on the new film "The Great Gatsby," set in 1922.
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"He's a time traveler," user "Zen" commented on the New York Daily News' website. "That's the explanation. He's mastered the manipulation of quantum mechanics and creates wormholes regularly to travel back and forth in time."
Others maintain he's an immortal vampire.
Some people believe the photo is proof that Jay-Z is a member of the Illuminati, supposedly an elite organization of influential individuals that mastermind events and take control of world affairs through governments and corporations. The rapper's wife, Beyoncé, is also rumored to be a part of the underground society.
This isn't the first time a historical celebrity doppelganger has made headlines.
Perhaps the most well known instance is actor Nicolas Cage. In 2011, a man posted a photo from the Thanatos Archives on eBay for $1 million, which showed a Tennessee man in 1870 that looks like Cage's twin.
Cage joked about the photo and the similar conspiracy theories that surrounded it at the time on Letterman.
"I don't drink blood and last time I looked in the mirror, I had a reflection, so I'm not going with the vampire theory," he said.
Some other celebrities also bear a
striking resemblance to old, historical photos.
Justin Timberlake looks uncannily like the criminal in this old-time mug shot.
Similarly, Chuck Norris looks almost exactly like artist Vincent van Gogh in this self-portrait.
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