Tumblr's early fandom communities were no stranger to elaborate controversies, but few were quite as bizarre as the story of "HIVliving."

What initially appeared to be an account raising awareness about HIV and sharing personal experiences was later revealed to involve fabricated identities, false claims of HIV-positive status and donations solicited under pretenses.

The account became particularly notable because of its connection to Hamilton fanfiction, with its eventual exposure sparking widespread discussion across Tumblr and the famous musical's fandom.

So, how did HIVliving go from a fandom account to one of Tumblr's more infamous controversies? Let's find out what happened with the notorious "Hamilton AIDS Fanfiction Drama."

What And Who Was 'HIVliving' On Tumblr?

In 2016, one or more Hamilton fans began the HIVliving Tumblr blog to raise awareness about issues surrounding living with HIV-positive status.

The blog initially gained attention for posts about HIV activism, resources and personal experiences, as well as for the popular Hamilton high school AU fanfiction To Scale the Blue Sky.

The account was thought to be run by two people: "Israa," described as a nonbinary Chinese-Pakistani human trafficking survivor living in India, and "Naj," described as a U.S.-born lesbian woman of color also living in India. Both individuals claimed to be HIV positive.

On September 26th, 2016, Naj, posting from the Tumblr account @allolesbean, described their supposed experience living with HIV.

HIVliving eventually became popular enough that users across social media recommended it as a source of information about HIV-positive issues.

The blog also took several strong positions on HIV-related topics, including opposing laws that punished people for not disclosing their positive status to potential partners.

What Happened With The 'HIVliving' Investigation?

"Naj" and "Israa" continued to run the account for more than a year until Naj linked to a Cash.me fundraiser asking for help with medical expenses.

Tumblr user digoxin-purpurea, another Hamilton fan, began investigating after noticing that the Cash.me account Naj linked appeared to be based in the United States.

Digoxin-purpurea confronted Naj about the discrepancy, leading to a lengthy back-and-forth between the two. The user subsequently compiled their findings in a post titled "WHAT HAPPENED WITH HIVLIVING," published on October 27th, 2017.

Eventually, Naj confessed that she was actually a white U.S. college student who had lied about her identity and HIV status. It was revealed that neither "Naj" nor "Israa" existed, that the account's owner was not HIV-positive, and that she did not live in India.

A confession was subsequently posted on the HIVliving Tumblr blog under the "Hamilton" tag, confusing some in the site's fandom.

The account owner also promised to repay people she had defrauded through the Cash.me fundraiser, although no proof has been provided to date that anyone was actually reimbursed.

How Was 'Hamilton' Fanfiction Connected To All Of This?

You may be wondering, "What does any of this have to do with Hamilton?" Well … following the confession, digoxin-purpurea used the findings to argue that HIVliving had been created to justify the creation of alternate-universe Hamilton fanfiction in which some of the characters were HIV positive.

This claim became part of the controversy surrounding the account and its connection to the Hamilton fandom.

The revelation sparked widespread criticism within the musical's fandom and Tumblr community. Much of the backlash focused on the fabrication of marginalized identities, the alleged misuse of HIV-related activism and the solicitation of donations under pretenses.

What Was The Aftermath Of The Viral Controversy?

Following the controversy, some fans claimed that digoxin-purpurea had been forced to delete their Hamilton RPF Cannibal Mermaid fanfiction from Archive of Our Own (AO3) by HIVliving and her followers, possibly motivating the investigation. These allegations were later detailed in a now-deleted post by Tumblr user @pure.

The controversy also became connected to an earlier dispute involving digoxin-purpurea on Tumblr.

On April 10th, 2017, Tumblr user @beachdeath posted about reports of concentration camps in Chechnya, stating that their existence had not been confirmed by reputable news outlets. An argument followed between the user and digoxin-purpurea, during which beachdeath exposed the user's fanfiction output.

The HIVliving controversy ultimately became a well-recognized part of Tumblr lore due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the account, its fabricated identities and its connection to Hamilton fanfiction.

What Are Some Related Memes?

Tumblr has long been home to a wide range of fandoms, subcultures and online communities, making controversies a recurring part of the platform's history.

Some incidents became especially memorable because of their unusual circumstances, eventually turning into pieces of Tumblr lore that users would continue referencing years after the original events.

John Green Text Post Editing Scandal

"Cock Is One of My Favorite Tastes," also known as the "John Green Text Post Editing Scandal," is a notorious copypasta and Tumblr meme originating from a 2010s text-editing prank involving author John Green.

The meme originated from users editing the text of reblogged posts to make it appear as though Green had written something he had not.

In 2015, Tumblr user @katara replaced the text of one of Green's posts with a sexually explicit copypasta beginning with "Cock is one of my favorite tastes."

Green later reblogged the edited post with an "NSFW" warning and explained that he had not written the text. The incident became closely associated with Tumblr's text-editing culture and later inspired jokes that the platform had removed the ability to edit other users' posts because of what had happened to Green.

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For the full history of the HIVliving / Hamilton AIDS Fanfiction Controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry.