- Zendaya wore a large hat to the 2025 Met Gala, sparking a new meme
- Back in 2014, she wore an Emporio Armani big hat to the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party
- This sparked some horror-style memes online, particularly on TikTok
Zendaya has become the subject of the Zendaya Hat Theory meme. The Spider-Man star, 28, accidentally created a new meme when she wore a sleek white Louis Vuitton suit and hat to the 2025 Met Gala.
Law Roach styled her, and while she looked sophisticated, fans quickly turned it into a meme.
Fans pointed out that the 28-year-old wore a similar look to another appearance she made 11 years prior. At the 2014 Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party, the Dune star wore a huge Emporio Armani hat with a black dress.
Thus, another meme was born.
Here is a breakdown of the Zendaya hat theory and what it means.
Zendaya hat theory: What is the meme?
The Zendaya hat theory is a collection of creepy pasta-style/horror-style memes that share scary (but fake) theories related to Zendaya wearing the big hat to the 2014 event.
In these videos, users link the star wearing the hat to wild conspiracy theories.
After her Met Gala appearance, TikTok user @thesnakesbloxx started the meme frenzy.
In the original video with 23 million views, Zendaya talks in a clip where someone asks her what her favorite Beyoncé song is, all while a warning siren blares in the background.
The siren is meant to be scary, and the dreaded image of Zendaya in the black hat flashes on-screen. In true meme fashion, the creator zooms in on the hat from various angles, as if to suggest it holds some deeper meaning.
So, what’s the point of the meme? That’s exactly it—there isn’t one. The theories are intentionally obscure and completely unrelated to the image of Zendaya, which is why it’s ironically called the “Zendaya hat theory”—and that absurdity is what makes people laugh.
Additionally, it pokes fun at how ridiculous some internet conspiracy theories are about celebrities.
The same user continued to post videos sharing various Zendaya hat ‘theories’. In one video, they attempted to explain the theory, but only confused users further with its nonsense.
Other accounts joined in on the meme
The meme expanded beyond the hat photo. Internet users started to use clips of a young Zendaya from her YouTube channel to suggest something ominous was going on.
Distorted clips over ominous music or warning sirens were posted in hundreds of videos, related to the dreaded hat.
Here is one example:
In one case, the original creator of the meme even shared a photo of a Google Doc, sharing a theory that the hat was enchanted.
Before the hat theory, there were other memes about Zendaya’s 2014 hat.
In a Vogue video, she said of the look, “I still see memes about this particular look.”
She added, “I would wear it again. Might have to bring it out of the archives one day.”
Whatever the true theory is, we know we do not want this meme to end.
