**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
**CINCINNATI, OH** – In a plot twist that historians are calling "the most 2016 thing to ever 2024," the ghost of Harambe has reportedly been spotted trending on social media for the seventh consecutive year, this time in direct correlation with a sudden 14% spike in global banana futures.
The late, great western lowland gorilla—who was tragically shot at the Cincinnati Zoo after a child fell into his enclosure—has transcended mere meme-dom to become a secular saint of chaotic timing. Experts are baffled, but the internet has spoken: every time a major geopolitical event, celebrity scandal, or financial crisis occurs, someone inevitably posts "Dicks out for Harambe," and the economy shudders.
This week, the resurgence was fueled by a viral deepfake of the gorilla delivering the State of the Union address, wearing a tuxedo and a pensive expression, before shooting a finger gun at the camera and whispering, "You thought *I* was the one who got canceled? Look at the stock market, baby."
“It’s ironic because Harambe represents a simpler time when the worst thing happening was a dead gorilla, not, you know, an AI gorilla running for office,” said Dr. Karen Memelord, a professor of Internet Pathology at the University of TikTok. “The joke is that we’re still holding a vigil for an animal we never met, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that we’re all living in his jungle now.”
The zoo has declined to comment, though a groundskeeper was overheard muttering, "If I see one more banana peel with a hashtag on it, I'm unionizing with the ghost of Cecil the Lion."
**Dicks out. Sigh. Always dicks out.**