The Conspiracy Theories Surrounding Juice Wrld's Death Fully Explained

Juice Wrld — born Jarad Anthony Higgins — was a musician whose career was cut short when he died of an overdose in 2019. He became interested in music at an early age and had a talent for playing various instruments including the guitar, piano, and drums. By high school, Higgins started freestyle rapping and recording his own music. He released an online EP in 2017 and his first full-length album the following year titled "Goodbye & Good Riddance" (via All Music).

On December 8, 2019, the 21-year-old rapper was on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. He had just vacated the plane when he reportedly suffered a seizure, per TMZ. Emergency responders immediately brought Juice Wrld to the hospital, but he was declared dead shortly thereafter. Just like some musicians in the industry, there are many conspiracy theories surrounding the rapper's death, most of which claim that he faked his own death and even provided "proof" of their assertions. This isn't far from the theories about Tupac Shakur and Elvis Presley, who some believe are still alive decades after their death.

Conspiracy theorists who claim Juice Wrld is still alive provided "proof" with a photo that made rounds online in 2020, months after his death was reported. In the photo, Juice Wrld was wearing a Supreme box logo shirt. That fact alone isn't surprising, as the rapper was known to often wear clothing from the lifestyle brand. However, some pointed out that the particular shirt he was wearing in the photo proves that he is alive, as that design was released months after his death, as reported by District Trending.

Supreme rarely releases box logo shirts, and the designs are never repeated. This is the reason why many people believe that the photo serves as proof that Juice Wrld faked his own death. However, it's quite easy to challenge the theory. As a successful rapper, Juice Wrld may have had early access to merchandise before they are released to the public. That's most likely the explanation for the shirt he was wearing in the photo, which was possibly taken before his death.

News reports of Juice Wrld's death confirmed that he had a seizure before his death. This conspiracy theory suggests that users on TikTok predicted the rapper's death, as well as the manner in which he died. In 2019, there was a popular trend on the video platform TikTok called the Lucid Dreams challenge. In it, as reported by Osca Ledger, users filmed themselves pretending to have seizures by convulsing and expelling foam or water from their mouths. The videos were posted with one of Juice Wrld's most popular songs titled "Lucid Dreams," which was released in 2018.

It's not clear who started the challenge on TikTok, but just months after the trend began, Juice Wrld's sudden death was announced. According to Distractify, many were quick to notice the similarity between the challenge and the rapper's death, and that gave birth to the conspiracy theory. Others, however, called for the videos to be removed from the platform as a sign of respect for the rapper's family.

The lyrics in one of Juice Wrld's songs is enough "proof" for some to be convinced that Juice Wrld faked his own death. In the song titled "All Girls are the Same," there's a line that goes "All this jealousy and agony that I sit in/I'm a jealous boy, really feel like John Lennon," wherein he alluded to the Lennon hit "Jealous Guy." As reported by Distractify, those who believe in this conspiracy theory say that Juice Wrld faked his own death and chose the date — December 8 — as a clue. The date happens to be the same day Lennon was murdered in 1980.

In another song titled "Legends," Juice Wrld's lyrics go, "What's the 27 Club? We ain't making it past 21." The line talks about the famous 27 Club, which consists of musicians — Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison, among others — who all died at the age of 27. Again, conspiracy theorists believe that Juice Wrld faked his death, as he had just turned 21 years old days before he died. To others, however, it meant that the rapper predicted his death.

This is, perhaps, the most popular conspiracy theory surrounding Juice Wrld's death. According to Vice, the rapper posted a tweet on April 25, 2017, which read, "My goal is to get overly famous, shine for a couple years ... then fake my death." Many consider this tweet proof that Juice Wrld pushed forward with his plans and is now living a private life. At the time of the tweet, the rapper was already making music, but it wasn't until 2018 that he became popular after releasing "Lucid Dreams."

The tweet has been flooded with comments from fans since his death, giving them hope that Juice Wrld is alive and well. Others, however, said that the post was merely a coincidence and to not look too much into it. Still, there are many who believe that this is the ultimate proof that Juice Wrld faked his own death after finding success.

In past interviews, Juice Wrld was open about his use of drugs. In an interview with The New York Times in 2018, he said, "Every now and then I slip up and do something that's poor judgment." According to a report from NPR, his death was the result of codeine and oxycodone toxicity. Authorities also discovered drugs on the private plane that Juice Wrld was traveling in before he had the seizure. Chris Long, the rapper's photographer, talked about his friend's drug use in a tweet, writing, "J was just hooked bad. The amount he took daily was absurd and he hid how much he really took from mostly everyone. Everyone around him tried really hard to get him to slow down. When he agreed to rehab it was because he wanted to lower his tolerance. He didn't want to stop" (via Hypebeast). Juice Wrld had agreed to go into rehab just days before his overdose.

Juice Wrld's mother, Carmella Wallace, released a statement after her son's death, and she openly talked about her son's struggles with drug use. "We loved Jarad with all of our hearts and cannot believe our time with him has been cut short. As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency," the statement read, per TMZ.