It’s not exactly hard to find a sucker on the internet but this has been a particularly banner week for credulity. Straight on the heels of that 3D “reconstruction” of the Virgin Mary that turned out to be a big phony fake, internet pranksters decided to go ahead with round two — another bogus reconstruction of Jesus’ dad and all-around famous carpenter, Saint Joseph.
And yes it is a fake. But honestly, how cool would it be if Joseph really looked like the most beloved giant in the world?
The original post, by internet wisenheimer @ColossusNick, now has a content warning slapped onto it noting that the claim is “unsupported” especially, one might assume when it comes to those Stanford “scientists.” Of course, no one who has seen The Princess Bride or who watched WWF in the late 80s can fail to recognize that the image presented as “Joseph” is actually, the Eighth Wonder of the World himself, André the Giant.
The post is presumably poking fun at anyone fooled by this week’s previous hoaxsters, who circulated a 3D image of Lady Gaga that was definitely NOT a reconstruction of the face of Mary. The source image originally surfaced in 2018 claiming it was a reconstruction of Egyptian ruler Cleopatra — a meme that has its own origins in an actual Harvard study that fans would cite while attaching pictures of singers Lana Del Ray and Britney Spears.
That said, if either GaGa or Andre ever spoke Aramaic they might actually do a fair job of portraying Jesus’ parents, or at least his mom and stepdad.
Thankfully some good has come from the prank in the form of a shout-out from Mandy “Inigo Montoya” Patinkin himself recalling his late friend and former co-star.
Rest well, André. And dream of large women.