Confused QAnon Followers Question Whether Keith Richards Is JFK After 'Reappearance' Flop

QAnon followers have questioned whether the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is in fact President John F. Kennedy after the failure of their prophecy that his son JFK Jr. would reappear this week in Dallas.

Hundreds of QAnon believers descended on the city on Tuesday, convinced they would witness the return of JFK Jr., who died in 1999.

This prophecy—which is considered too extreme even by some other members of the conspiracy theory movement—posits that JFK Jr. faked his death in a plane crash and would return to run as Donald Trump's vice president in 2024 and help usher in a new era of American prosperity.

On Tuesday, QAnon followers arrived at the site of JFK's assassination on November 22, 1963—Dealey Plaza in Dallas—expecting to see JFK. Jr.

The prophecy was promoted by QAnon Telegram channels with hundreds of thousands of followers, including the Negative48 and Whiplash347 accounts.

After JFK Jr. failed to appear at Dealey Plaza, because he died more than two decades ago, QAnon followers moved the goalposts yet again to share a new prediction.

Numerous accounts across several Telegram channels seen by Newsweek claimed that JFK and his son would reveal themselves to the world at a Rolling Stones concert in Dallas on Tuesday night.

QAnon followers shared photos and posts from inside the Cotton Bowl Stadium, with some convinced that Richards—the Rolling Stones guitarist born in Dartford, southeast England, in 1943—was in fact the 35th president of the United States.

A user with more than 1,000 Telegram subscribers wrote: "Yeah, Keith Richards is totally [JFK] Sr. This whole event is coded for JFK. The arrival."

A Twitter user with hundreds of followers posted: "Whether you like it or not - JFK Senior was there [at the concert] and I feel it was Keith Richards."

Other accounts on Telegram questioned who was actually on stage. One shared a picture of Richards performing in Dallas and another of him from a photoshoot, commenting: "Not the same person for sure."

Some QAnon followers were left deflated when JFK Jr. failed to return, however, and cast doubt on the idea that the rock band's members were the Kennedys in disguise.

One said: "Why are they [the Rolling Stones] selling tickets for Detroit concert if they are revealing themselves as fakes wearing masks?

"If JFK Jr. is revealing himself and wearing Stones mask, they wouldn't be scheduling a concert in Detroit in two weeks and currently selling tickets."

After the concert ended, another shared a post with the Telegram group that read: "Didn't miss anything at the concert except a good performance."

QAnon podcaster Mike Penny attempted to explain JFK Jr.'s non-appearance in a YouTube video.

In the clip, uploaded on Tuesday evening, Penny said: "A lot of things from late last night 'til this morning haven't panned out the way they were supposed to.

"But, again, we're on God's timing and we don't hold that against anybody. We understand that that's the way it is and there's a lot to still be unfolded."

The video has been watched more than 75,800 times. It has been liked 6,000 times and disliked by 766 people.

Newsweek has contacted the Dallas Police Department for comment.

The reappearance of JFK Jr. is the latest QAnon prediction to fall flat, after the day of reckoning known as "the Storm" failed to materialise on any of the dates promoted by conspiracy theorists.

The QAnon movement originated on online messageboards and promotes baseless claims that a satanic pedophile ring is engaged in the mass sex trafficking of children.

Its followers also believe that, in "the Storm," former President Donald Trump will expose this group and order its members to be executed.