After Mass Shooting in Idaho, Social Media Users Invoke Internet Meme to Blame an Innocent Man

By Chiara Vercellone

An X user shares an altered photo of Rhode Island-based comedian Sam Hyde to claim the June 2025 Idaho shooter was a foreign terrorist. (Screenshot via NewsGuard)

What happened: For reasons that nobody can explain, since at least 2015, a Rhode Island comedian named Sam Hyde has been repeatedly and falsely blamed on social media for al…