Is Ted Cruz's long hair real?

The meme-prone Texas senator that is Ted Cruz has been ruthlessly mocked by the internet over the years – the most well-known example being the invention of the nickname ‘Cancun Cruz’ after abandoning his state during a storm for a holiday, which he is reminded about at regular intervals.

Now, however, the question is being asked as to whether the controversial Republican once sported longer locks than the short black hair or mullet-like look he has currently, as a picture of Cruz with bushier brown hair and a larger chin has gone viral on Twitter/X.

The image, shared by the 1.8 million followers strong account ‘Rare Insults’ on Thursday (15 February), is accompanied by the text: “Ted Cruz look like he got fired from the bowling alley for f***ing the shoes.”

“Spot on,” added the Twitter account.

Except, it’s edited, and is likely to be a modified version of Cruz’s official senate portrait, seeing as the US flag on the right has the same slope to it in the real photo, and he’s wearing the same tie in both.

Whether they knew of its illegitimacy or not, Twitter/X users were quick to compare the edited Cruz to other celebrities and fictional characters:

And of course, edited media continues to be a hot topic in the political arena, as across the pond here in the UK, Sadiq Khan issued a warning this week about deepfakes following reports a fake video of him making remarks about Armistice Day circulated on social media, before the Conservatives put out an edited video of Khan where he misspoke and said Labour were proud to be “antisemitic” (he immediately corrected himself after saying this).

Then there’s the infamous example of Grant Shapps editing out Boris Johnson from a picture with the Virgin Orbit last year, and the time a picture of Rishi Sunak with some school children raised questions as to whether the prime minister had been edited onto a stock photo.

So don’t always take things at face value…

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