UPDATE
6:25 PM PT — Zendaya’s rep confirms to TMZ … this woman in this video is NOT Zendaya whatsoever, despite all the speculation. Case closed.
A viral video of a young woman getting beaten up has led the internet to believe it could possibly be Zendaya — but based on the visual evidence we’ve seen … it’s likely BS.
This clip made the rounds this weekend … it’s 7 seconds long, and it shows somebody wailing on this poor girl inside of an apparent store somewhere. After they’re done punching, they resort to kicking, sending the woman flying back and knocking her head against a wall.
Indeed, it’s incredibly brutal — and there’s no context whatsoever, as far as we can see, that points to where or when this happened, who exactly was involved, or why.
What people do believe they see here, however, is someone who appears to resemble Zendaya — at least from the quick glimpses of this girl’s face you can make out in the video. Yes, we’ll admit … it does look a bit like the actress — especially from her ‘Euphoria’ scenes.
Again, there’s no telling when this might’ve been from — or if it’s even Zendaya at all, frankly — but FWIW, Z isn’t rocking this length of hair at the moment … she’s got a much shorter ‘do right now, as you can see in recent pap shots of her out and about in Massachusetts.
Her shoe-wear is also different than what’s in this video — rainbow-colored Crocs. Zendaya’s got sneakers on here … and has publicly said she’ll either rock tennis shoes or heels, not much in between. Zendaya’s never been snapped in Crocs from what we could find.
The bottom line is this … there’s no clear evidence this is, in fact, Zendaya — and yet, Twitter’s got her trending right now since they think it could be her. Zendaya or not though — others have pointed out that those who are mocking this are sending the wrong message.
Even if it’s just a doppelganger … the filming and recirculation of an assault on a woman of color is something many see as a disturbing trend — with this just being the latest example.
We’ve reached out to Zendaya’s camp for comment. She hasn’t spoken up on this quite yet — but if it isn’t her, it might be worth debunking … ’cause this thing is running rampant.
Originally Published — 3:03 PM PT