Steve Jobs Picture Hoax: Photo Of Lookalike In Brazil Goes Viral, Infuriating Reddit

An image resembling the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, alive riding in a wheelchair through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, immediately went viral after it was uploaded to Reddit Wednesday evening.

Jobs died of pancreatic cancer in 2011 after making Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) one of the most popular brands in the world, but in an image uploaded to Reddit’s popular Pics section by “TheHorseSizedDuck,” it appears as if he simply moved south. A wheelchair-bound Jobs lookalike is looking to the side as a young man pushes him along, an image bizarre enough to inspire a cacophony of reactions from the conspiracy-minded community.

“Steve Jobs had effectively unlimited monetary resources,” one user wrote, speculating that the frail figure is actually Jobs in hiding. “He had connections with some of the smartest, most powerful people in the world. He was known for eccentricity. He was known for near sociopathic disregard for other people’s feelings.”

Others were less pleased, decrying the photo and the nearly 3,000 comments beneath it as insensitive to what is a clearly a sick man and his caretaker.

“When did it become okay for the handicapped to be secretly handicapped by hipster douchebags and published to the amusement of thousands of readers?” wrote another. “I hate this picture-taking [stuff].”

Editor's note (4:28 p.m.): The original version of this story erroneously listed Steve Jobs' cause of death as leukemia. His cause of death was pancreatic cancer and respiratory arrest.