A rumour that the Canadian singer has been replaced by a lookalike resurfaced on Twitter last week, but she is not the first star to be subject to such speculation

Did you know Avril Lavigne was replaced by a lookalike named Melissa in 2003? At least, that’s what the internet would have you believe. The old conspiracy theory that Lavigne was “cloned” resurfaced on Twitter over the weekend, but it has been bandied about the internet since 2005 and is thought to have originated on a Brazilian fanpage.

The theory claims Lavigne, struggling with fame at the beginning of her career, began using a body double named Melissa. At some point, the real Lavigne is said to have died, so the record company replaced her with Melissa full-time. “Proof” has included Lavigne’s red carpet shots (Lavigne wears trousers; Melissa prefers dresses and skirts) and supposed differences between the facial features of pre-2003 Lavigne and the current incarnation. Theorists also believe Melissa has left clues in songs, such as Slipped Away, in which she sings: “The day you slipped away was the day I found it won’t be the same”. There was even a publicity shot in which Lavigne had “Melissa” written on her hand. Spooky.

But Lavigne is not the first celebrity to be subject to a (completely unverified) cloning conspiracy theory, as the following examples show ...

Paul McCartney

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paul ‘Paul McCartney’ McCartney in 2016. Photograph: Startraks Photo/Rex/Shutterstock

Possibly the best known example is the claim that Paul McCartney was replaced with a lookalike after he had been killed in a car accident. The urban legend took root in 1969, following the release of the Beatles’ Abbey Road. Fans hunted for clues – they were convinced John Lennon was saying “I buried Paul” in Strawberry Fields Forever, for example (Lennon said he was actually saying “cranberry sauce”). Unlike some more recent conspiracy theories, the person at the centre actually rebutted the claim. In an interview with Life magazine in November 1969, McCartney said: “Perhaps the rumour started because I haven’t been much in the press lately.”

Taylor Swift

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Taylor Swift and Zeena LaVey, two people who look alike. Photograph: Getty/Zeena LaVey and Nikolas Schreck interview

Moving away from the “clone replaces celebrity” genre, theorists believe Taylor Swift is, in fact, the clone of a former satanic priestess. Seems reasonable. The theory, which dates back to 2011, claims Swift is an Illuminati clone of Zeena LaVey, the daughter of the founder of the Church of Satan. Essentially, the two look similar. There are thousands of videos on YouTube comparing the two, which surely counts as proof.

Beyoncé

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Beyoncé in May 2016. No, really. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex/Shutterstock

Beyoncé and Jay Z have long been associated with the Illuminati on certain pockets of the internet – so much so that Beyoncé referenced it in Formation. It is also claimed that the Illuminati uses clones to brainwash society. Sometimes, all it takes to set the conspiracy wheels in motion is two different pictures of the same person, and the Beyoncé cloning theory gained a flurry of attention last year when a Facebook post that compared images of the singer from 2010 and 2016 went viral. It read: “Fans the chick on the left is her but the chick on the right is not. This high degree masonry witch on the right is a cloned [sic].”