Katy Perry Responded to the Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Claiming She’s Really JonBenét Ramsey

She didn't *deny* it...

Katy Perry at the grand-reopening of the Landmark, Tiffany & Co.'s flagship store, held at Tiffany & Co. on April 27, 2023 in New York City.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The internet has always been a fertile breeding ground for wild conspiracy theories, but some go deeper into "unhinged evidence board full of red string" territory than most and find people arguing bizarrely head-scratching things, like that Katy Perry is actually JonBenét Ramsey.

The Katy = JonBenét conspiracy theory isn't new—versions of the theory have been popping up in various corners of the internet for years and trace back to 2014, when a now-deleted video titled "JonBenét Ramsey is singer Katy Perry" went viral.

According to an Entertainment Tonight report, the seven-minute video is narrated by an "unseen man named Dave Johnson" who "makes a string of claims linking the pop star with JonBenét, who was murdered in 1996."

The original Katy Perry/JonBenét Ramsey conspiracy video (dozens more have been made by others in the years since the 2014 breakdown of the theory went viral) claimed that Perry's real parents were actually John and Patsy Ramsey and that they had fake their daughter, JonBenét's, death (and, presumably, orchestrated the media circus that would surround the subsequent investigation in Boulder, Colorado) as part of an elaborate plan to allow her to become famous.

As evidence of the claim, the video's creator pointed to Perry's appearance, and in particular to the shape of the "Never Really Over" singer's eyebrows, jaw and the bridge of her nose, which the video offers as proof of the conspiracy.

These physical similarities became the basis for a new visual aid supporting the theory on Feb. 27, when an AI-generated video of JonBenét morphing into Perry went viral on Instagram, eventually even making it onto the "Firework" singer's radar and prompting her to publicly respond to the longstanding conspiracy theory.

"wait am i," Perry wrote in a Mar. 1 comment on the video, which is captioned "WAKE UP PPL" and set to an audio clip from her 2012 single "Wide Awake."

Of course, as striking as the AI-generated clip might be, the theory itself is, obviously, riddled with holes, including the fact that Perry was born in Oct. 1984, more than five years earlier than JonBenét, who was born in Aug. 1990.

While Patsy Ramsey died of cancer in 2006, John Ramsey continues to push for detectives to solve his daughter's murder and recently met with Boulder's new police chief, Steve Redfearn, to discuss the case.

"They were just open to sincerely discuss the case," the 81-year-old told NBC News in January, not long after the meeting. "I’m just very impressed with the caliber of the leadership now and that gave me great hope."

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Contributing Editor at Marie Claire

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.