About

Big A.J. Death Hoax or Big A.J. Dead refers to a series of posts spreading the false claim that A.J. Befumo of "Costco Guys" fame died due to his alleged steroid use. The death hoax garnered viral spread on TikTok on April 18th, 2025, and was started by user @iambenzyyy. As it spread, the death hoax inspired memes and posts about A.J.'s supposed death across social media.

Origin

On April 17th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @iambenzyyy posted a video in which he claims that A.J. Befumo of the duo A.J. and Big Justice (also known as the Costco Guys) has died. In the video, he refers to A.J. as "Big A.J." and shows a fake tweet that he claims was posted on A.J. and Big Justice's official X account, claiming that A.J. passed away in relation to his purported use of steroids. The video gained over 6 million views in three days.

Spread

The death hoax inspired further content claiming that A.J. Befumo died as the rumor spread over the following days.

For instance, on April 20th, 2025, TikToker^[2] @fastfamefeed posted a video relaying the rumor that Big A.J. died, garnering over 468,000 views in a day.

On the same day, TikToker^[3] @globemysteriess posted a similar video claiming that A.J. died. The TikToker claims that A.J. didn't really die and posted a video from the hospital online, where he falsely claims to have gotten a serious infection after breaking his foot during an AEW match. The video gained over 750,000 views in a day.

Later on April 20th, 2025, TikToker^[4] @most.likely.luka posted a video captioned, "RIP big aj gone way too soon." The video shows the TikToker meeting A.J. in public and getting him to say his catchphrase, "Double chunk chocolate cookie," garnering over 650,000 views in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References