'Zendaya hat theory' sends TikTok into a frenzy as 'ominous' outfit resurfaces

The internet is rife with chilling conspiracies and dubious true crime tales, but this latest one has in over their heads. Tom Holland gone "missing", 's involvement and incorrect anagrams: welcome to the behind the viral ‘ hat theory’.

Over the past month, social media has been overrun with false yet hilarious claims that Zendaya is hiding Tom Holland in her "big hat", that Zendaya is part of the horror universe and that Zendaya herself is somehow in on the whole conspiracy. The first thing you need to know (if you haven’t guessed) is that it is absolute nonsense. But the true story lies in where it comes from and – more importantly – how it spread.

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What are the origins of the Zendaya hat theory?

It all kicked off after the 2025 . Zendaya showed up in one of the event’s most striking outfits: , designed by Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton. But it was her white wide-brimmed hat that stole the show – and which triggered TikTok’s conspirators. See, it’s not the first time Zendaya has worn a statement hat. The last memorable time was in 2014. And, let’s just say, it was something.

The original hat in question was resurfaced on May 1 when TikTok user @thesnakebloxx posted a video of younger Zendaya to unsettling music (the clip has since gained 24.5 million views). An interviewer asks: “What’s your favourite song by [Beyoncé]?” and the Disney star makes a gagging expression. “That’s like an impossible question,” Zendaya replies. “It’s Beyoncé. I’m gonna have to go with everything .” The video then jumps to a blurry zoom-in of Zendaya in the hat.

The hat in question was first seen at the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood Party in 2014, one of Zendaya’s first major red carpet appearances – and one of her most memorable looks. She can be seen in a all-black suit with a, frankly, massive bowler hat on top of her head, which was a stark deviation from her more feminine looks.

A subsequent video by the same creator said: “Zendaya wore a big white hat to the MET gala. But what does this mean for the Zendaya theory? Her outfit was an exact opposite of the original black outfit.” They then showed Zendaya wearing a snake pin on the back of her suit jacket, claiming that this was a reference to their username: snakebloxx.

But what was the relevance of the Beyoncé clip? In 2020, a clip of Zendaya from 2015 being asked about Beyoncé was edited to make it look as though her smile glitched in an unsettling way, as reported by .

Why did it go viral?

The creator finished their follow-up video by stating: “We know the truth and we’ll tell you now. But, first, what do you think it all means? We definitely know but we just want to see if you guys can guess.”

But at this point, TikTokers themselves had already taken the reins. And let’s just say, the conspiracies that have developed from the original video have been outlandish to say the least. And a bamboozling number revolve around Zendaya’s boyfriend and Marvel co-star Tom Holland.

“Tom is in the hat,” one user stated, to hundreds of upvotes. Another video, which has 2.9 million views, said: “Guys.. I have a theory, stay with me here. The hat is black… Black has five letters… Tom has three letters… Five take away three equals two. There are two ‘a’s in Zendaya…” The video continues in a nonsensical way until it comes back to “Tom and Zendaya being two people, minus…the hat .”

Despite being quite transparently made up, the commenters have been expressing genuine unsettlement over the videos. “BRO THIS IS ACTUALLY GETTING SCARY,” one user wrote. “I’m shaking is this real…”

So, what was the point? Was it all an elaborate joke? A social experiment? The internet has already seen how far celebrity conspiracies can spread – particularly given the recent virality of . It seems the ‘Zendaya hat theory’ has been a fun look at phenomenon that can become a lot more serious.