Louvre heist: Four suspects, seven minutes, eight pieces of jewellery. That’s all it took to shake France’s Louvre museum on October 20. Closed for investigation, the thieves ransacked a few displays in the Apollo Gallery and fled on scooters. The gang, posing as a construction crew, robbed the place in broad daylight, with all the tourists still present. However unfortunate, the Internet could not help but think the incident was right out of a heist movie.
From Ocean’s Fourteen’s George Clooney feeling ‘proud’ of the thieves to pull off something as gutsy, the netizens were equally surprised. In fact, some conspiracy theories suggest that the incident was a PR stunt for the upcoming magic-heist film Now You See Me 3, which felt very plausible. Spread across social media platforms, the world, fans, and stakeholders alike are left feeling shaken.
From ‘national disaster’ to ‘very chic’
While it may be a “national disaster” for the French, this Parisian jewel heist cannot be taken more humorously by the Internet. The conspiracy theory spread like wildfire after Lionsgate’s official TikTok account pointed out the uncanny resemblance between the previous scenes from the Now You See Me franchise and the actual robbery. Fans could not help but be puzzled at their unseriousness. Millions of users are still convinced that this eerily real incident is connected to an elaborate marketing gimmick for the film.
‘A conspiracy theory I can get behind’
Taking to Reddit, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok, users expressed how it was a plausible scenario. Confirming the bias of the inability to take anything seriously, the Twitterati proved it, yet again. A user wrote on X, “A conspiracy theory i can get behind is that the louvre staged the heist themselves as an elaborate marketing stunt because honestly, how does this even happen anymore.”
“I just saw someone saying that the Louvre was robbed as part of the now you see me movie promo, and I laughed, but I remembered that Woody Harrelson is in Paris, and now I’m suspicious,” said another user online. For non-fans, Woody Harrelson plays one of the protagonists or ‘horsemen’, called Merritt McKinney. In fact, some even related the incident to Lionsgate’s latest social media post captioned ‘big reveal in Paris’. Netizens couldn’t help but relate the incident to French heist show Lupin and cult-favourite Money Heist, too.
Denying the rumours, Lionsgate had to clarify and wrote, “We love the theory – but the Louvre heist isn’t one of ours.”