Yes, The Internet Is Really Agonizing Over Tom Cruise's "Fake" Butt

Bush did 9/11. The Illuminati control the world. The moon landing was faked. Tom Cruise wore a prosthetic posterior while filming Valkyrie.

We love a good conspiracy theory - and while we're not sure Tom Cruise's suspiciously voluptuous glutes truly belong with the the classics, the controversy is definitely entertaining.

Let's start from the beginning: On August 20th, Twitter user @iluvbutts247 (of course) posted a film still from 2008's Valkyrie featuring Tom Cruise's surprisingly plump rump. The tweet proposes that Cruise donned a fake butt for a single shot. The tweet went viral, and was covered by media publications including Jezebel, NME, and as of today, CNN.

Just over a month later, Tom Cruise dispelled rumors of his padded tush during an interview with Screen Rant, saying "I have no idea. There was no prosthetic in Valkyrie. No.[…]It's me. It's not CGI, it's me. I do my own mooning in films. So let it be known – I do my own mooning." This is somewhat believable - Cruise is known for doing his own stunts - but @iluvbutts247 was quick to respond with skeptcism.

"I think if Tom Cruise wants to sit on prosthetics and call himself thicc, he has the right to give it a try, but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. This ordeal has part of my attention--it has the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of ILuvButts247, where my colleagues and I are doing butt things that no one in Hollywood, including and especially Tom Cruise's flat ass, are physically or thickly capable of doing."

The statement, according to Know Your Meme, is actually a riff on a quote from The Social Network. We may never know if Cruise faked his Kardashian-esque derrière, but the saga has definitely been entertaining. Here are some of the highlights from the most ass-inine debate of the year. See what we did there?

Posted by Ada Elder