About

Heartbreaking: X Found Alive refers to social media posts that parody typical news posts about deaths of famous individuals by instead including an individual who is alive but is disliked by a significant number of people, with their alive status being jokingly described as "tragic" and "heartbreaking". Spawned by a viral post about Malaysia-based political commentator Ian Miles Cheong, the parody format achieved popularity in 2024.

Origin

In early February 2024, a rumor about conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong supposedly facing sedition charges and being up for execution in Malaysia was circulated on social media. On February 15th, after the rumor was refuted, X^[1] user @FreedomFan69 posted a photograph of Cheong with the caption, "🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 Heartbreaking: Ian Miles Cheong has been found alive at age 47." The post, which parodied typical news posts about deaths of famous people, received over 4,400 reposts and 82,000 likes in nine months (shown below).

Spread

On March 16th, 2024, X^[2] user @PathfinderFacts made a similar post about YouTuber KEEMSTAR, writing that he "has been found alive in his home in Buffalo, NY". The post (shown below) garnered over 11,000 reposts and 168,000 likes in eight months.

Following the viral spread of the posts about Cheong and KEEMSTAR, the format saw further use on social media, primarily on X / Twitter, as it was used in posts about alive influencers, politicians and other individuals who have disliked by large groups of people. For example, on July 6th, 2024, X^[3] user @The_Weidmanator made such post about former WWE CEO Vince McMahon, with the post garnering over 580 reposts and 9,300 likes in four months (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References