Ice Spice Down Syndrome Theory

Submission 23,922

Part of a series on Ice Spice. [View Related Entries]

About

Ice Spice Down Syndrome Theory refers to a series of memes and posts about rapper Ice Spice having Down syndrome, seemingly caused by a photo of her in which internet users thought the construction of her face alluded to the condition. The theory became notable on Twitter in early 2023, spreading to Ice Spice's Instagram comments and videos on TikTok.

Origin

On March 15th, 2023, Twitter^[1] user @ViagraPussy quote retweeted a video of Ice Spice in an interview, writing, "she got down syndrome vibes," gaining roughly 4,200 likes in three months (shown below). The QRT is currently the first-discovered instance of the theory.

Spread

In the replies of the aforementioned QRT, others started posting and making memes about the concept. For instance, on March 16th, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @suburbandirtbag replied with a Photoshop of Ice Spice's face mashed with the face of a person with Down syndrome, writing, "i saw the vision many moons ago," gaining over 500 likes in three months (shown below).

A few months later, on May 4th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @hannabee44 posted a video that was a screen recording of their "For You" page, showing consecutive videos on their feed of an Ice Spice video and a slideshow including an Instagram comment screenshot related to the Ice Spice Down Syndrome Theory, gaining roughly 649,100 plays and 16,200 likes in one month (shown below).

On May 8th, 2023, Twitter^[4] user @CannotHaveSex posted a similar QRT to the original, captioning an Ice Spice-related tweet with, "Does she have Down syndrome?" gaining roughly 6,500 likes in one month (shown below, left). Some Twitter^[5] users in the replies referenced a May 7th, 2023, viral tweet from Twitter user @kaczynskigf (since-deleted but reposted to iFunny^[6]) that compared Ice Spice to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome (shown below, right).

Going into June 2023, viral instances of internet users purporting the theory persisted on Twitter^[7] and TikTok.^[8]