Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer

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About

Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer refers to a mock conspiracy theory suggesting that the 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is the unidentified serial killer nicknamed the "Zodiac Killer," who claimed to have killed 37 people in a series of anonymous letters in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Origin

On March 14th, 2013, the Twitter feed @RedPillAmerica^[2] posted a a tweet claiming that an upcoming Cruz speech would be titled "This is the Zodiac Speaking" (shown below).

Spread

On November 10th, 2014, Twitter user @Flash2844^[6] tweeted that Cruz' deathbed confession would be "I am the Zodiac Killer" along with the hashtag "#TedCruzIsTheZodiacKiller" (shown below).

On December 15th, 2015, a Facebook^[8] page titled "Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer" was launched, garnering upwards of 9,400 likes over the next two months. On January 20th, 2016, Twitter user @Lindzeta^[10] posted a fake quote of Cruz confessing to the Zodiac Killer murders (shown below, left). That evening, Twitter user @ZeppoWilbury^[5] tweeted that Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada and that the Zodiac Killer's first victims were named "Cal and Gary" (shown below, right).

On February 13th, 2015, Twitter user @vrunt^[1] tweeted for readers to Google the phrase "Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer" en masse for the phrase to appear on Google Trends. That day, he posted a screenshot of the phrase displayed during a CBS broadcast of that evening's Republican presidential debate with the caption "holy shit we did it" (shown below).

On February 17th, activist Tim Faust began selling t-shirts printed with a depiction of Cruz as the Zodiac Killer (shown below).^[9] On February 20th, Twitter user Tim Nunley pointed out that Cruz was born after the killer's infamous murders.^[4] On February 26th, NPR^[3] reported that many of the people involved in popularizing the meme think Cruz is "creepy." On February 23rd, the On February 26th, the news site The Verge^[7] published an article about the history of the theory.

Larry Wilmore's White House Correspondents' Dinner Jokes

On April 30th, 2016, comedian Larry Willmore repeatedly referred to Ted Cruz as the "Zodiac Killer" during his closing act at the White House Correspondents' Dinner (shown below). The following day, Redditor youramazing submitted a post about the event to the /r/The_Donald^[12] subreddit, referring to Willmore as an "absolute madman". On May 2nd, 2016, Yahoo News^[11] asked Cruz's wife to respond to Willmore's jokes, to which she replied "Well, I've been married to him for 15 years, and I know pretty well who he is, so it doesn't bother me at all."

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Ted Cruz's Acknowledgment

On October 18th, 2017, United States Senator Ben Sasse responded to a thread discussing Sasse's apology spilling a Dr. Pepper on Senator Ted Cruz, which he referenced during Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s Senate hearing on October 18th.^[19] During the end of the thread, Twitter user @njh2005 referenced the Trump-led rumor that Cruz's father was instrumental in the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. Sasse responded,^[13] "full disclosure: i was wearing my 'Lee Harvey Oswald Was Framed' t-shirt." The tweet (shown below) received more than 1,000 retweets and 6,900 likes in 24 hours.

Shortly after, Cruz responded to Sasse's tweet^[14] by posting the infamous Zodiac killer cypher without comment. The post (shown below) received more than 47,000 retweets and 80,000 likes in 24 hours.

The response to Ted Cruz tweeting this was mixed on Twitter. Some thought his acknowledgement killed the meme (example below, left). Others commented on Cruz shared an image from a serial killer who is still at large (example below, center). Finally, some expressed their disdain for Cruz (example below, right).

That day, Twitter^[15] published a Moments page about the response to Cruz's acknowledgment. Several media outlets covered Cruz's response, including The Verge,^[16] New York magazine,^[17] The Hill^[18] and more.

Additionally, that day, on the /r/NotTheOnion subreddit, Redditor^[20] Chumunga64 posted "Ted Cruz tweets Zodiac Killer confession, extending the internet's favorite meme." Within 18 hours, the post had more than 25,000 points (91% upvoted) and 1,000 comments.