Amy Schumer’s trucker doppelgänger: The bizarre story that even confused the comedian herself

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Stand-up comedian and actor Amy Schumer found herself trending on Twitter this week when a picture of a lookalike ostensibly winning a prize at a truck stop went viral.

However, it wasn’t long before various elements of the story were debunked by Snopes.

The story began with a Facebook post by the Celina 52 Truck Stop, showing a picture of a woman who bore a striking resemblance to Schumer collecting a Monster Energy-branded mini-fridge from a truck stop.

The caption read: “Who says only men drive trucks?? Big Rig driver Amelia stopped in this morning to redeem her Cranking The Hog Reward Points for this brand new mini fridge valued at over $500 due to the Monster Energy branding. Thanks for continuing to let us service you!”

The picture soon went viral on both Facebook and Twitter, as users noted not just the similarities between Amelia and Schumer, but also other unusual elements in the photograph such as a sign reading: “STOP Pooping In Our Parking Lot” and the teardrop tattoo below Amelia’s left eye.

The tattoo is widely known as one popular among convicts to signify they have committed a murder – although it can have other meanings – but a subsequent Facebook comment on Celina 52 Truck Stop said: “Amelia wanted us to point out that her teardrop tattoo is not because she murdered someone.

“She accidentally killed a pedestrian once after falling asleep at the wheel and got the tattoo to honour their memory.”

The picture and follow-up comment caused such a stir online that it wasn’t long before Schumer herself had been alerted to the story, and she tweeted: “Wait, what’s going on at a truck stop? -me” along with an emoji face with a teardrop.

However, the fact-checking website Snopes has questioned the veracity of the original story and suggested that the photograph may well have been doctored.

They point out that the Celina 52 Truck Stop Facebook page is listed as a ‘satire/parody’ page, and that earlier this year the same page posted a doctored picture of NHL player Phil Kessel. It was accompanied by the claim that Kessel, like Amelia, was a regular truck-driver who had won a prize at their truck stop.

Kessel’s T-shirt had been digitally altered to bear the slogan “Harry Potter hates Ohio”, raising the question of whether a similar technique had been used to amend Amelia’s shirt to say “Truckin N F***in”.