Episode 7: Avril Lavigne’s Clone Named Melissa
Who sparked the bizarre conspiracy theory that Avril Lavigne was replaced by a clone named Melissa, and why does it still persist? Snopes reporter Nur Ibrahim unravels the allure of celebrity death hoaxes, political body double rumors and how to sort the fakes from the facts. Cristen also connects the dots between Avril Lavigne, the Beatles’ Paul McCartney and conspiracy satire gone wrong.
Read the transcript.
guest:
Nur Ibrahim is a reporter at Snopes where she covers history, culture, international news and more. Prior to this she has worked at Al Jazeera English's "The Stream", Comedy Central's "The Opposition with Jordan Klepper" and Netflix's "Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj."
sources:
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Broderick, Ryan. Here's How I Accidentally Made An Old Avril Lavigne Death Hoax Go Viral. Buzzfeed News. 2 Oct, 2015.
Cresci, Elena. Why fans think Avril Lavigne died and was replaced by a clone named Melissa. The Guardian. 16 May, 2017.
Drinkwater, Ken and Dagnall, Neil. Halloween, Avril Lavigne and the conspiracy theory that refuses to die. The Conversation. 27 Oct, 2022.
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Glenn, Alan. 'Paul is Dead!' (said Fred). Michigan Today. 11 Nov, 2009.
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Ibrahim, Nur. Media Literacy: How Can You Tell if a Post Is Satire/Parody? Snopes. 25 Feb, 2023.
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The New York Times. Legitimate and Ludicrous Calls Swamp the Switchboards in Wake of Roosevelt Death. 14 Apr, 1945.
Lord, Emma. What Is The Avril Lavigne Conspiracy Theory? A Twitter User Thinks She Was Replaced In The 2000s. Bustle. 14 May, 2017.
Macdonald, Fiona. The hidden messages in songs. BBC Culture. 21 Oct, 2014.
Nansen, Bjorn et al. ‘Death by Twitter’: Understanding false death announcements on social media and the performance of platform cultural capital. First Monday. 2 Dec, 2019.
Press-Reynolds, Kieran. Why it seems like every celebrity death is now a conspiracy theory. Business Insider. 4 Dec, 2022.
Rafferty, Scott. The Avril Lavigne Death Hoax That Won't Die. Rolling Stone. 15 May, 2017.
Rhiannon, Alexis. Who Is Melissa Vandella? The Actress Involved In The Avril Lavigne Conspiracy Theory Is A Mystery. Bustle. Updated 15 May, 2017.
Telling, Gillian. Avril Lavigne Lyme Disease: Singer Was Bedridden for 5 Months. People. 1 Apr, 2015.
