Met Gala 2023: Viral photo of Selena Gomez is fake; Jason Derulo didn’t fall down the stairs

Celebrities from around the world gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Monday, May 1, for the annual Met Gala. The event, hailed as one of fashion’s biggest night, is about grand gestures and bold statements.

Each year, the event announces a theme. This year, it was the late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and some celebrities honored him by wearing Chanel, or even dressing up as his cat, as actor Jared Leto did. 

However, some people questioned whether some viral Met Gala images on social media were real. One photo appearing to show actress Selena Gomez in a Versace dress went viral, and another photo appeared to show musician Jason Derulo falling down the stairs.

QUESTION #1

Was this photo of Selena Gomez in a Versace dress taken at the 2023 Met Gala?

THE SOURCES

• RevEye, a reverse image search tool
• Photos of Lily James from the 2022 Met Gala

THE ANSWER

No, Selena Gomez did not attend the 2023 Met Gala. The photo is fake. 

WHAT WE FOUND

The photo claiming to show Selena Gomez at the Met Gala isn’t real. In fact, Selena Gomez didn’t even attend the Met Gala in 2023. 

The photo was edited to make it appear as though it was Gomez, but it was actually Lily James in the same Versace dress from the 2022 Met Gala with Gomez’s head superimposed on the image. 

VERIFY was able to find the original photo of James using RevEye, a reverse image search tool. 

We compared the photoshopped image of Gomez to images of James at the 2022 event. Both show the same carpet pattern, the same people in the background, and the way James is posing is the same as in the photo appearing to show Gomez.

The 2023 Met Gala carpet was cream, with light red and blue stripes.

QUESTION #2

Does this photo show Jason Derulo falling down the stairs at the 2023 Met Gala?

THE SOURCES

• RevEye, a reverse image search tool
• Getty Images photo from the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
• 2015 interview with Jason Derulo
• 2019 tweet from Jason Derulo

THE ANSWER

No, this photo doesn’t show Jason Derulo falling down the stairs at the 2023 Met Gala. 

WHAT WE FOUND

This photo wasn’t taken at this year’s Met Gala – and it doesn’t show Jason Derulo who, like Gomez, didn’t attend this year’s event. Using RevEye, a reverse image search tool, VERIFY was able to trace the photo to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in France.

According to the caption of the original photo from 2011, the man seen in the photo was trying to crash the Cannes Film Festival and was caught on camera trying to perform a stunt. Further, the carpet seen in the viral image didn’t match this year’s carpet at the Met Gala.

This claim about Derulo has been around for years. In 2015, during an interview with Audacy, a radio app, Derulo was asked about the meme. He also tweeted about the rumor in 2019.

“When somebody tried to send me flying down the stairs at the Met Gala, I was actually in rehearsal in LA,” Derulo said during the 2015 interview. “The Met Gala was actually in New York, for those who don’t know. And I just thought it was hilarious. I thought it was funny … I thought it was a little weird though my grandmother, she’s 93 years old, and she called me. She’s like ‘are you alright? I heard you fell down the stairs.’ I was like, ‘grandma, I’m good.’”