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TheTed Cruz–Zodiac Killer meme is anInternet meme which originated in 2013 and gained popularity in 2015. The meme is a satiricalconspiracy theory which positsUnited States senatorTed Cruz is theZodiac Killer. Ted Cruz was born in 1970 after the last confirmed Zodiac killing. Proponents of this meme generally do not genuinely believe that Cruz is the Zodiac Killer. The absurdity of the premise is the point. According toNPR, the meme captures an unease with Cruz. People "think he's creepy. And they want to point that out, as clearly as they can."[1]
To be clear: the Zodiac Killer line is a joke. But it's a prolific joke, and one you can find printed on bumper stickers and a variety of black metal tees across the country. For Cruz, the Baptist senator for Texas and right-wing Republican presidential candidate, it's an unexpected foray into popular culture.
A 2016 investigation by Miles Klee ofThe Daily Dot found the first use of the meme to be by aTwitter user in March 2013, as Cruz was speaking at theConservative Political Action Conference and vowing to repeal theAffordable Care Act.[3][4] The actual Tweet was, "Alert: Ted Cruz is speaking!! His speech is titled: 'This Is The Zodiac Speaking'".[5] The meme was not repeated until November 2014, by another Twitter user writing about Cruz's proposal againstnet neutrality.[4]
It continued in obscurity up to February 2016, when another Twitter user edited a picture of a Republican debate in order to include "Is Ted Cruz the Zodiac Killer?" in the interactive ticker at the bottom.[1] That month, "is ted cruz the zodiac killer" was the second highest suggestion inGoogle'sautocomplete for "is ted", but by April it was not in the autocomplete at all.[1][6]News.com.au writer Matthew Dunn suggested that Google wascensoring the search term, showing evidence that it accounted for 89% of total searches when compared to other terms in the autocomplete.[6]
In April 2016, theHouston Chronicle said the meme "has a following. AFacebook group named for the meme has more than 27,000 members. A Google search turns up 621,000 hits, including exploratory articles by some of the biggest news publications on the web".[2]
Cruz himself has jocularly alluded to the meme bytweeting one of the Zodiac Killer'scryptograms; first in October 2017 responding to a retweet from SenatorBen Sasse referring to Cruz as "the son of the guy who killed Kennedy" (a reference toa conspiracy theory involvingRafael Cruz)[7] and then wishing a "HappyHalloween" in 2018.[8][9] In December 2020, after the340-character Zodiac cipher was cracked, Cruz retweeted an article about the cipher with the caption "uh oh".[10]
After the edited image showing the question on Google trended, the meme spread into popular culture.[1]GQ and theChicago Tribune have referenced the meme.[11][12] Books about Cruz being the Zodiac Killer, including romantic ones, were listed onAmazon.com.[4]
In February 2016,Public Policy Polling asked registered voters in Florida ahead of the Republican primary if they believed Cruz to be the Zodiac Killer; 10% believed and 28% were not sure. The other 62% did not think he was.[13][14]
ComedianLarry Wilmore made references to the meme in his April 2016 routine at theWhite House Correspondents' Dinner, including a joke that Cruz was not campaigning to win the nomination, but to continue a murder spree.[15]
In October of 2022, satirical news outletThe Babylon Bee produced a sketch as part of a series following the lives of two Californians who had moved to Texas. In the sketch titled "Episode 3 – The Church", the Californians are canvassing forBeto O'Rourke as part of the2022 US midterm elections and Cruz answers the door. In response to the canvassers, Cruz states he is short on time having "letters to write" before closing the door and inadvertently dropping one of the letters. The canvassers quickly flee after seeing that the letter is printed with a cypher.[16] Ted Cruz plays himself in the video.[17]
Lindsey Martin, a Twitter user who helped circulate the meme, told NPR that she did so because it is "so obviously untrue ... if there was any way that it could possibly be true I would be scared to joke about it just because of the repercussions."[1]The Verge writer Kaitlyn Tiffany opined that some may consider the subject of the meme to be "distasteful and irresponsible, even dangerous".[4]Leigh Alexander considered its spread an example of the growing political engagement of youth, writing that in such memes, "the political figure is exaggerated, his context made grotesque or fantastical, just as in traditionalpolitical cartooning."[18] According to Lozano, the point of the meme is to "[demonize] his character".[2]Heidi Cruz responded to the meme by stating that she has "been married to him for 15 years, and I know pretty well who he is, so it doesn't bother me at all. There's a lot of garbage out there".[19]
Media related toTed Cruz–Zodiac meme at Wikimedia CommonsUS Senator fromTexas (2013-present) •3rdSolicitor General of Texas (2003-2008) | |||||
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