Ted Cruz–Zodiac Killer meme

The meme is a satirical conspiracy theory which posits United States senator Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer.

For Cruz, the Baptist senator for Texas and right-wing Republican presidential candidate, it's an unexpected foray into popular culture.

A 2016 investigation by Miles Klee of The Daily Dot found the first use of the meme to be by a Twitter user in March 2013, as Cruz was speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference and vowing to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

[4] It continued in obscurity up to February 2016, when another Twitter user edited a picture of a Republican debate in order to include "Is Ted Cruz the Zodiac Killer?"

[12][13] Comedian Larry Wilmore made references to the meme in his April 2016 routine at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, including a joke that Cruz was not campaigning to win the nomination, but to continue a murder spree.

[14] In October of 2022, satirical news outlet The Babylon Bee produced a sketch as part of a series following the lives of two Californians who had moved to Texas.

In the sketch titled "Episode 3 – The Church", the Californians are canvassing for Beto O'Rourke as part of the 2022 US midterm elections and Cruz answers the door.

[16] Lindsey Martin, a Twitter user who helped circulate the meme, told NPR that she did so because it is "so obviously untrue ... if there was any way that it could possibly be true I would be scared to joke about it just because of the repercussions.