On June 23, 2021, John McAfee was found deceased in his prison cell in Spain. He reportedly died from suicide after the country announced its plans to extradite McAfee to the U.S. to face tax evasion charges. Not long after his death was announced, John McAfee’s Instagram account posted something unusual: the letter Q.
His account was then deleted, leaving even more questions. Why would McAfee post such a thing, and how would he do it after he died? If it wasn’t McAfee, then who? What does it mean, anyway?
There’s no doubt that the Q post is enigmatic. Considering McAfee’s personality as well as some background behind the Instagram account, there’s evidence to suggest that the Q post was either a hoax or a hack. While it is impossible for us to confirm either way, we know enough to declare that McAfee likely did not post it himself with the intent of supporting QAnon.
McAfee: International Man of Mystery
McAfee was an internet icon. While he initially made his fortune off of creating the first antivirus software, his exploits since leaving the company have been the stuff of legends. He’s been accused of murder; investigated for the production of illegal drugs in Belize (actually antibiotics); and has fled from multiple governments.
McAfee has a huge internet following. At the time of writing, his Twitter account has 1.1 million followers. It’s best to let the tweets speak for themselves.
While incarcerated, McAfee appears to have been able to use social media. He had fears that he was going to be assassinated post-incarceration and said that, if he dies in prison, it’s because he’s been murdered. He even had $whacked tattooed on his arm.
McAfee also said that he had a “dead man’s switch.” This means that upon death, a catalog of incriminating information will be released. Considering McAfee is currently dead and nothing has been released, we’re not quite sure if that was a bluff or not. Some have even asserted that the Q post is a signal of sorts to start releasing the dead man’s switch.
When McAfee’s comments are read within the context of the Q post, something fishy seems to be afloat. Some have taken McAfee’s tweets as an oath, asserting that he didn't die from suicide at all.
Enigma of Instagram
One of the most suspicious things about the Q post is that it’s on Instagram. Popular as Instagram is, McAfee hasn’t used it since 2020. As such, it’s not nearly as popular as his Twitter account (or was, as it’s been since deleted). So why Instagram?
It appears as though either he lost access to the account or he lost interest. In 2020, McAfee was incarcerated in Spain. He continued to use Twitter, however, his last tweet being just a couple of days before his death. If he lost interest, then why go to Instagram to make the post? If he lost access, then who would have posted it?
McAfee wasn’t the only person to have access to his Instagram. His second-to-last Instagram post revealed that he had a social media team. It was made shortly after being arrested by the Dominican Republic. It’s possible that one of them posted the Q, or had McAfee’s Instagram password stolen from them. Why someone would post a Q is beyond our ability to speculate, except maybe as a joke or flag.
Q the music
Still, there is a very real chance that McAfee did it as a prank. While the Q post came out after his death, he could have scheduled it that way. There are plenty of programs that would allow him to do so. If he didn’t have access to his Instagram account, he could have asked someone who did.
Let’s look at some of the exploits that make him legendary. He once tweeted that “no joke,” he spent thirty seconds having sexual relations with a whale. He released a video wherein he, surrounded by nearly nude women, lit a cigarette with a flaming $100 bill. Right after, he explained how to get the McAfee program off one’s computer – the modern iterations of McAfee are notoriously difficult to remove completely.
It doesn’t stop there, either. In an interview with Wired, he held up a gun to his head and pulled the trigger in front of a journalist. He neglected to tell the journalist that the gun wasn’t loaded. He claimed to have devised a complicated scheme to trick online drug users to use bath salts.
This history of high-concept, malevolent trickery lends credence to the theory that he made a posthumous prank. While McAfee had a history of paranoia, he never expressed any support for QAnon – although he did tweet about it. He likely wanted to grift conspiracy groups and leave a strange legacy.
Even though McAfee probably didn’t mean to support Q via Instagram, there remains plenty of unsolved questions, ones we may never get to the bottom of. Ultimately, however, it doesn’t seem to be the great conspiracy that some say it is. The Q post doesn’t prove the existence of Q or even that McAfee was involved in QAnon.
