The Zendaya ‘hat theory’ shows the absurdity of conspiracy theories

Almost everybody who was remotely online around spring of 2025  may have heard of the Zendaya hat theory. The theory itself stems from an extremely large hat that Zendaya wore to the 2014 Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party.

Originally in 2014 the hat was simply ridiculed and critiqued for its extreme size. After the 2025 MET gala when Zendaya was seen wearing another extremely large white hat. The meme itself is a theory that Tom Holland lives under.

This is due to the hat’s extreme size and Tom’s short stature. Some may remember the phrase “Zendaya spelled backwards is hat.”  In reality this isn’t true, Zendaya spelled backwards is not hat but it adds to this theory that Zendaya is some sort of host for the hat.

There is another famous clip involved in the theory that comes from an old YouTube video created by Zendaya where she ends by saying “don’t forget to smile.” Participants of the meme have turned this innocent reminder to a warning, basically meaning forgetting to smile will cause you to become a host for the hat.

Further fueling the theory, this year Zendaya stated in an interview “my hat, I stick by it,” which became another famous clip in this theory to show that the hat brought out some dark version of her.  At the Teen Vogue party, the interview that Zendaya gave was rather glitchy due to poor technology at the time, but people turned this into a way to kind of say that she was “possessed” by this hat.

The videos themselves have filters and editing to make it seem like some sort of horror conspiracy. The meme itself actually shows how absurd and random conspiracy theories are by exaggerating this innocent style choice into a dark and twisted conspiracy. The meme pokes fun at how people will put clips together and edit them to make something out of nothing, really showing how often ridiculous these internet conspiracy theories sound to people.

The extremity of the meme – from the combination of clips to the horror effects and music – exaggerates those “conspiracy horror” types of videos that were and still are popular with conspiracy theory enjoyers. In reality, these theories hold no water and the videos that make them seem like they do are the result of editing and mixing clips and videos together to make something out of nothing. Zendaya’s hat theory is a satirical conspiracy theory meme that plays on extreme theories that in reality make no sense.