Earthquake Makeup

Submission 37,549

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About

Earthquake Makeup refers to a supposedly fake viral video by YouTuber Ali J in which an earthquake interrupts recording of a makeup tutorial. The authenticity of the video became a subject of online debate, with significant evidence uncovered indicating that the video has not been filmed during an actual earthquake. Additionally, the video gained popularity in meme edits on YouTube and Instagram.

Origin

On July 6th, 2019, YouTube user Ali J posted a video of a makeup tutorial, claiming that it was filmed during the July 5th, 2019, 7.1 earthquake in Los Angeles, California.^[1] The video received over 990,000 views on YouTube in two months (shown below).

[This video has been removed]

Authenticity Debate

In the following days, multiple users on YouTube argued that the video was faked. Among the evidence provided by the users were unusual upload pattern of previous videos on the channel, as well as the fact that the appearance of the room where all Ali J's videos were recorded in had not changed since September 2016. On July 6th, 2019, Imgur user BPNAVE uploaded a comparison between the interior of the room the video was recorded in and an earthquake simulator featured in a Buzzfeed video in September 2016.^[2]^[3]

In the following days, multiple news outlets reported on the video and the debate around its authenticity, including articles by We the Unicorns^[4] and Dexerto.^[5]

Spread

On July 15th, 2019, YouTuber DeMantis posted the first known meme based on the video to YouTube (14,400 views in four months, shown below),^[8] with the edit being featured in Best Memes Compilation V61 (4.2 million views in four months) in the following week.^[9]

On July 19th, 2019, Facebook page Living In 2077 posted a meme based on the video in which the shaking was caused by a person dancing to hard bass.^[6] The edit gained over 950,000 views and 22,000 shares on Facebook in two months (shown below).

In the following days, more edits based on the video were posted on YouTube. On August 15th, 2019, YouTuber The House of the Dank posted a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure edit based on the video, with the upload receiving over 990,000 views in one month (shown below).^[7]