Some claims are repeated quite often in different variations, using the same formula with slight tweaks. Connecting a 3D bust of a celebrity to an alleged rendering of a religious figure has become more and more common as digital art spreads across the internet. In January 2023, an old meme recirculated claiming that scientists had made a rendering of what they believed Moses looked like was one such example.
The meme had spread back in October 2022, as well. The tweet claimed, "Scientists at Exeter University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Moses might have looked."
This is not a model of what Moses would have looked like. It is clearly a digitally rendered image of famed wrestler Hulk Hogan.
We found a version of this 3D model of Hogan posted on the website ArtStation around four years earlier, which depicted the wrestler's face and body at different angles. The artist, Yaroslav Bugaev, stated in the caption, "I want to share with you my latest work, which I did on the lessons of Hossein Diba. It was decided to make a model of the legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan. I hope you will enjoy."
This is not the only fake Moses on the internet. Back in October, this appeared to be a trend, where people posted images of random or famous people and claimed they were Moses, also attributing the so-called research to scientists at Stanford and other institutions.
This is clearly a joke meme that has gone a bit too far. We previously covered fake claims that argued images of Andre the Giant were actually Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus of Christ.
This claim is also no different. We rate this as "Miscaptioned."