# The Black Eye Club
The Black Eye Club is an internet conspiracy theory that claims politicians, celebrities, and world leaders photographed with a bruised eye (usually the left) were marked during a secret Illuminati initiation. The idea started on YouTube in August 2017 and spread through fringe blogs, Twitter and TikTok over the following years.
## Overview
The Black Eye Club is an online conspiracy theory built around one simple pattern: powerful people keep showing up in photographs with a bruised left eye. Believers argue the mark is not a kitchen accident or a stray elbow, but visible proof of an initiation ritual carried out by a shadowy elite, most often described as the Illuminati[1]. The list of alleged members includes Pope Francis, George W. Bush, Kanye West, Prince Andrew, Mitt Romney, Madonna and Justin Bieber[3].
Adherents cluster around a handful of overlapping explanations. Some claim the bruising is part of a secret society's internal checks-and-balances system, delivered as either punishment or rite of passage[1]. Others say the black eye is a side effect of an adrenochrome injection, a substance conspiracy circles wrongly credit with anti-aging powers[6]. The strangest version, popularized by the late radio host Sherry Shriner, is 'soul scalping,' in which a reptilian entity supposedly replaces a target's soul via the eye socket[3].
The theory keeps returning because it is easy to demonstrate visually. Any compilation of famous faces sporting shiners doubles as its own evidence, which is why the meme travels as image grids and TikTok slideshows more than as long-form writing[8].
## How It Spread
The theory jumped from small YouTube uploads to a full write-up on May 9th, 2018, when the fringe site The Phoenix Enigma published a long article dividing alleged members into 'government/politics' and 'entertainment/Hollywood' camps and laying out the initiation, punishment and soul-scalping theories side by side[1]. That piece kept expanding into 2021 as new famous faces were added to the roster[1]. On July 20th, 2018, the Daily Mail gave the idea mainstream tabloid coverage, listing Elizabeth Hurley, Boy George, Prince Philip and Robert Downey Jr. as photo-op suspects[3]. A viral Facebook post from user Tao Te Ching six days later compiled the same faces into a single 'Who is punching them?' image macro[6].
TikTok is what pushed the meme past conspiracy Twitter into the general feed. On September 3rd, 2021, the account @quicknoteconspiracies uploaded a summary explainer that pulled in more than 419,000 views, and the #blackeyeclub hashtag climbed past four million views by early November 2022[6]. Twitter piled on with posts framing Mitt Romney's October 2021 shiner and even Dr. Phil as fresh inductees[6].
The theory hit its highest visibility in late 2022. On October 2nd, Doja Cat arrived at the Balenciaga show during Paris Fashion Week wearing painted-on bruising, a split nose and a bloody lip, a look she told Vogue was inspired by how exhausting Fashion Week had been[4]. Conspiracy TikTok read the makeup as a signed contract with the Illuminati, a reading her earlier masquerade-and-Illuminati themed 27th birthday cake did nothing to cool down[5]. Weeks later, when Paul Pelosi was attacked with a hammer in his San Francisco home on October 28th, 2022, altered images of him with a black eye circulated as supposed proof of a forced initiation, a claim Reuters debunked[6]. The meme resurfaced again on August 31st, 2023, when X user @JackStr42679640 posted a clip of Roseanne Barr talking openly about the 'Black Eye Club,' which she called the 'Satan club'[6].
## How to Use
In practice the meme travels as a photo grid or slideshow. Posters typically stitch together five to fifteen headshots of famous people whose left eye looks bruised, add a caption like 'Who is punching them?' and let the visual pattern do the argument for them[6]. On TikTok the common format is a slow zoom on each face with ominous music and a voiceover naming the person and the official excuse (bike fall, cabinet door, gym accident) before the creator implies a hidden reason[8]. Skeptics use the same template ironically, adding obviously innocent bruises to the grid to point out that any long enough photo archive of any public figure will contain a shiner or two[8].
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is The Black Eye Club?
It is a conspiracy theory that claims politicians, celebrities and world leaders spotted with a bruised eye (usually the left) were marked during a secret Illuminati initiation ritual[1].
### Where did The Black Eye Club come from?
The idea started on August 3rd, 2017, when YouTuber Perspectives uploaded videos titled 'Chuck Hagel Black Eye Club' and 'John Kerry Black Eye Club'[6].
### What does The Black Eye Club mean?
Believers read a bruised left eye on a public figure as visible proof of membership in a hidden power structure, whether an initiation, a punishment or an adrenochrome injection[1].
### How do you use The Black Eye Club?
Most posts are photo grids of famous people with black eyes captioned with a rhetorical question such as 'Who is punching them?', a format popularized by a 2018 Facebook post from user Tao Te Ching[6].
### Is The Black Eye Club still popular?
It comes and goes with news events, with big spikes around Doja Cat's Paris Fashion Week look in October 2022 and Roseanne Barr's on-camera mention in August 2023[4][6].
### Who are the most cited members?
Common names on the alleged roster include Pope Francis, George W. Bush, Kanye West, Prince Andrew, Mitt Romney, Madonna, Justin Bieber and Robert Downey Jr.[3]
### Why Chuck Hagel?
Because he appeared at a 2014 Veterans Day event with a bandage on his left cheek, which the Pentagon blamed on a kitchen cabinet, and resigned three days later[2].
### What is 'soul scalping'?
It is a fringe claim promoted by the late Sherry Shriner that reptilian entities replace a target's soul via the eye socket, leaving a bruise behind[3].
### Did Doja Cat join the Black Eye Club?
No, her October 2022 Balenciaga look was makeup she described to Vogue as inspired by how physically draining Paris Fashion Week had been[4].
### Was Paul Pelosi's attack really an initiation?
No, images of Paul Pelosi with a black eye that spread after the October 28th, 2022 hammer attack were altered, according to a Reuters fact check[6].
## References
1. [https://thephoenixenigma.com/the-black-eye-club/]()
2. [https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/11/politics/hagel-face-wound/index.html]()
3. [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5971319/Conspiracy-theory-suggests-celebrities-snapped-black-left-eyes-ILLUMINATI.html]()
4. [https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/doja-cat-black-eye-busted-lip-paris-fashion-week-video-1235150862/]()
5. [https://bossip.com/2180013/doja-cat-celebrates-her-27th-birthday-with-celebrity-friends-in-masquerade-illuminati-themed-gala/]()
6. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-black-eye-club]()
7. [https://www.infinityexplorers.com/black-eye-club-satanic-illuminati-cult/]()
8. [https://believingthebizarre.com/black-eye-club-conspiracy/]()
9. [https://www.boatos.org/english/does-the-black-eye-club-in-public-figures-involve-the-eye-of-horus-and-occultism.html]()
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