Why Are All These 3D Celebrity Heads Going Viral On Twitter?

Over the past week, you may have seen several 3D renderings of heads go viral on Twitter, often with captions like, "Scientists at Stanford University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ might have looked." That would be quite an impressive technical feat, you think to yourself, only this 3D model sure looks a heck of a lot like Lady Gaga.

Be not bamboozled, friend, for you're not crazy: that is indeed Lady Gaga and this poster is memeing. It's part of a larger trend riffing on times when scientists actually have used technology to create 3D models of historical figures. Here, we'll explain what's going on with this sudden influx of "3D models of historical figures" meme and how it started.

Where Did The "3D Model" Trend Begin?

For the record, scientists have used technology to render 3D models of historical figures in the past. For example, in 2017, scientists really did use technology to render what the biblical figure Mary Magdalene may have looked like. These renderings will often get posted by "science is cool"-type Twitter accounts and websites, so it's not altogether uncommon to see a headline like this float through the timeline.

However, the meme of using a 3D rendering of a celebrity and claiming it was actually a historical figure first started in 2018, well before the recent influx. On February 18th, Twitter user @lovemedown sent Twitter users into a frenzy when they claimed a 3D model of Britney Spears from the video game Britney's Dance Beat was actually science's attempt at modeling Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

That kicked off a series of memes where users posted humorous 3D renderings imagining what Cleopatra looked like. In fact, one of the memes used the same 3D renderings of Lady Gaga that kicked off the 2022 iteration of the meme.

Why Is The Meme Back Now?

It's unclear why Twitter user @brotaminz chose to bring back the meme by claiming the renderings of Lady Gaga were actually Mary, the mother of Jesus, but it certainly worked. Perhaps people had forgotten the very similar meme from four and a half years ago, but whatever the case, many posters appeared confused that the supposed rendering of Mary looked so much like the pop star—not realizing that it was a joke all along.

Once enough people caught on though, the floodgates opened, and several other posters took their shot at fooling Twitter by claiming 3D models of celebrities were actually of historical figures. Over the week, viral examples included hoaxes with 3D models of wrestler Andre the Giant and actor Vin Diesel.

In many of these instances, Twitter users have remarked the historical figure looks remarkably like a famous celebrity, getting 95% of the way to realizing that they're getting pranked. So long as people keep falling for the gag, it's likely the meme will continue for some time. For the time being, it's best to assume any stories about scientists crafting 3D models of historical figures are just a prankster trying to fool you.

For more information about this meme, check out the KnowYourMeme entries for What Cleopatra May Have Looked Like and Scientists Have Constructed This 3D Model.