Video Claims Disney Created Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron in a Laboratory

Perhaps it was former President Abraham Lincoln who said it best when he uttered, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.” Or maybe it wasn’t; who can remember?

Related: Video Claims Disney Cannot Obey Florida Law, It’s Owned by the British Crown

But with the internet ending its third decade as a controlling force in our lives, stories that were posted as farcical are being recycled as actual news. And with a limited ability to fact-check on social media, people believe these recycled stories are fact.

A video has resurfaced claiming that the Walt Disney Company has a laboratory that it uses to create the next generation of Disney Channel stars for children’s television. The video claims that former Disney Channel stars Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus are clones created in a Disney laboratory.

The video says: 

All Disney celebrities are clones. This is public knowledge. So, who else is not human? 

The video started on TikTok and eventually made its way to Instagram, where it was viewed thousands of times and received hundreds of likes.

Zac Efron got his big break on Disney Channel’s High School Musical (2006) when he was 19. He also starred in the two sequels. He has since gone on to international fame in The Greatest Showman (2017), The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022), and The Iron Claw (2023). 

Miley Cyrus also started on the Disney Channel with Hannah Montana when she was 14. She would go on to international stardom as a singer.

There is no evidence that either former Disney Channel star is a clone, nor is there any evidence that the Walt Disney Company can create clones. However, that has not stopped people from believing the social media video.

The Video’s Origins

The video originates from The Onion, the satirical newspaper turned website. In 2008, the Onion posted a video to YouTube claiming that both Efron and Cyrus were clones created by Disney to lure children to their programming.

Given that the video is 16 years old, no one remembers the original post, and it has been recycled into what USA Today called “stolen satire.” People recycle old content so that the content appears to be news.

Given the current political climate surrounding Disney, it’s not surprising that many people who replied in the comment section found the story believable.

It’s also an example of how satire from the past can reused and fashioned into news stories today; if they appear real enough, people will believe them.

Do you believe that Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron are clones? Let us know in the comments.