A photo of a man bearing an uncanny resemblance to deceased Apple CEO Steve Jobs has inspired imaginative conspiracies across the internet. Has Jobs been laying low in Egypt after faking his own death in 2011? Sure, why not?
Theories that Jobs –who died of pancreatic cancer eight years ago– is alive and well have been fueled by photographic ‘evidence’ that spread across social media during the weekend.
The photo in question, reportedly taken in Egypt, shows a man who looks strikingly similar to the late tech guru.
Conspiracy theorists claim Apple genius Steve Jobs is alive and hiding in Egypt' https://t.co/PePFKf4Jhm pic.twitter.com/yn2il4P1nZ
— The Sun (@TheSun) August 26, 2019
At first glance, there’s an undeniable likeness. The man, seen reclining in a plastic lawn chair, has a face that looks like it could have been photoshopped from file photographs of an Apple conference. After making the rounds on Facebook, the image appeared on the popular internet forum Reddit, in a post jokingly titled “Steve jobs hiding in Egypt after faking his death.”
The post had received nearly 80,000 upvotes by Monday, with more than 1,500 comments weighing the difficult-to-dismiss evidence.
“I know this is supposed to be a joke, but WTF, this guy looks too much like Steve Jobs to be so random,” read one of the top-rated comments.
Others argued that faking his death and then hiding in Egypt would totally be something that Jobs would do.
“I’m not very into conspiracy theories, but Jobs would be crazy enough to actually do it,” one netizen quipped.
However, party-poopers soon began poking holes in the would-be airtight theory.
“Nah he’s not wearing an Apple Watch,” an observant Reddit user noted.
Others pointed out that Jobs’ biological father was Syrian, perhaps making it more likely that men sharing similar physical attributes would be found in Mediterranean countries.