Damar Hamlin has been forced to respond after conspiracy theorists made the wild claim that the NFL star died following his cardiac arrest and has been replaced by a clone.
Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on January 2 while playing for the Buffalo Bills in their NFL game at the Paycor Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Since the scary incident which saw the 24-year-old placed on a ventilator in intensive care, he has made a miraculous recovery and has since been discharged from the hospital.
Hamlin spoke out publicly for the first time on January 28 via a video posted to social media where he thanked fans for their love and support.
Bizarrely, conspiracy theorists are claiming that Hamlin actually died following what happened in Cincinnati and that he has been replaced by a body double.
As reported by the BBC, the claim is largely being made by anti-vaxxers who believe that the Covid-19 vaccine played a part in the NFL star's cardiac arrest, despite it not even being known if Hamlin had received it or not in the first place.
One individual involved in spreading rumors was Stew Peters, one of the creators of Died Suddenly, a documentary that made false claims about the Covid-19 vaccine.
Jordon Rooney, a representative for Hamlin, mocked conspiracy theorists after they claimed that the video the NFL star made was faked due to it being edited.
Rooney said: "Possible explanations for why the video was spliced up: A) Damar had 100 people to thank and stopped several times throughout to make sure he named everyone B) It’s fake and/or he’s a clone."
Hamlin himself has now come out to silence the conspiracy theorists once and for all by posting an image where he is standing next to a mural of himself with the caption: "Clone," in sarcastic quotation marks with a ninja emoji.
The Buffalo Bills posted a video of the 24-year-old at the stadium last week where he was cheered by fans, but this didn't stop conspiracy theorists from doing what they do best (or worst, depending on how you look at it).
"The entire NFL has to sign a NDA and will never be able to tell you the truth," one person wrote, with a second adding: "When I watched that yesterday, my immediate that was this is crazy I don’t think that’s him. Why is he not showing his face? This just seems odd."
Hamlin silenced these weird claims in a simple yet hilarious way. Stitching a TikTok on his account, the video begins with a conspiracy theorist asking where the NFL star is.
The video then cuts to Hamlin saying "boo" at the camera with a big grin on his face.
If this isn't enough proof to show Hamlin is alive and recovering, then there's just no pleasing some people.