A six-year-old tweet of a beluga whale posted by First Lady Melania Trump is creating havoc in the Twitter-verse since it mysteriously turned into a picture of a giraffe.
In August 2012 Trump shared a picture of the whale with its head out of the water and its mouth hanging open along with the caption, “What is she thinking?” Little did she know, her husband would run for and become President of the United States, and the tweet would become a meme for those who wonder the same thing about her.
What is she thinking? pic.twitter.com/rFufrgMb
— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) August 10, 2012
But recently, things changed.
Twitter user @benicus_rex noticed the change last week.
https://twitter.com/benicus_rex/status/1076175742340190209
On Saturday people went nuts over the new image associated with the tweet: A giraffe looking over a fence. Same caption, same year, same time, new animal—and Twitter is losing its mind.
https://twitter.com/benicus_rex/status/1076175742340190209
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1079255482169057280
*opens twitter*
— bryson (@Bryson_M) December 30, 2018
*sees aftermath of whale vs giraffe mass hallucination*
*puts phone down*
Even more insane, some are still seeing the whale, others are seeing the giraffe. It appears to depend on what browsers or devices people are using.
jesus christ. the beluga whale comes up on my Safari and the giraffe is on my Chrome.
— Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) December 30, 2018
I HATE THIS. pic.twitter.com/ugRuQopun4
https://twitter.com/GerryDuggan/status/1079254939518459904
https://twitter.com/ItsTheBrandi/status/1079238451415969792
in every generation there emerges a fundamental divide…….first it was the blue/black or white/gold dress…..then it was the laurel and yanny audio…..now it’s the beluga whale vs. giraffe Melania tweet
— hazardous situation at yogurtland (@SirIssacGluten) December 30, 2018
But what does it all mean?
Well, there is a pretty reasonable explanation for why the tweet image has changed. To find out, let’s take a look back into internet history.
Back in September, a 6-year-old Chicago Cubs tweet got some fresh attention when a photo of a porn star replaced an image of Hall of Famer, Billy Williams, and his grandsons, Deadspin reported.
Yup, that’s not a photo of his grandsons.
All 5+ year old accounts should be concerned tbh. My guess is that the twitpic URL (that existed at the time) changed hosts and then the (probably legitimate) photo became that
— Matt Barnthouse (@MattBarnthouse) September 25, 2018
Deadspin went on to explain that this was most likely the case of an expired URL being reassigned. The same thing that changed a photo of Billy Williams and his grandkids to one of this naked blurry woman may have affected Melania Trump’s whale.
This has actually happened to dozens of tweets from sports teams including the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Jets. Strangely enough, all of them are also from August 2012 as well, Deadspin points out.
But despite a logical explanation for the photo swap, Twitter users couldn’t help but come up with conspiracy theories about the new image.
📍Beluga whale
— Chris “Law Dork” Geidner (@chrisgeidner) December 30, 2018
|
|
| _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
|
📍Melania’s decision to |
wear the jacket |
👀 |
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
|
|
|
📍a giraffe
https://twitter.com/kiewtip/status/1079213978482548736
all i'm saying it we have *ONE* electric-blue-lights-in-the-sky event in nyc and now dolphins are becoming giraffes!!!!!
— Alp (@alplicable) December 30, 2018
war is peace; freedom is slavery; whale is giraffe pic.twitter.com/CdyZ6ZP4yZ
— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) December 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/SirajAHashmi/status/1079253133518352384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buzzfeednews.com%2Farticle%2Fgracewyler%2Fmelania-trump-whale-giraffe-tweet
Whatever the reason for the change, we’re glad this meme is getting the renewed attention it deserves.