Many celebrities walked the 2024 Met Gala red carpet in extravagant looks inspired by nature, in keeping with this year’s theme. But contrary to social media users’ claims, Rihanna was not among them.
A May 6 Facebook post included an image of singer Rihanna wearing a cream-colored dress with a long floral train and a dramatic, circular silhouette covered in branching green leaves, flowers and birds.
The caption read, “Rihanna attends The #MetGala.”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
(Screengrab from Facebook)
The Met Gala benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. This year’s theme was “The Garden of Time.” But Rihanna wasn’t there.
Rihanna told ExtraTV about a week before the Met Gala that she planned to attend. People magazine reported May 6, the day after the event, that Rihanna didn’t attend because she had the flu.
The singer and entrepreneur is known for her buzz-worthy red carpet looks. The most recent Met Gala she attended was in 2023. The photo in the Facebook post does not match any of Rihanna’s past Met Gala looks.
Looking closely at the photo reveals hints that it was likely generated with artificial intelligence.
(Image from Facebook)
The carpet doesn’t match the 2024 Met Gala carpet, which was cream colored and had moss green accents along the edges. And the fake photo’s flower-studded hedges along the carpet’s perimeter are the wrong color; the flowers were white.
The photographers in the background also had some inconsistencies common among AI-generated images, including distorted hands.
PolitiFact recently fact-checked different photos that falsely claimed to show Katy Perry at the Met Gala. These images were AI-generated.
We rate the claim that a photo shows Rihanna at the 2024 Met Gala Pants on Fire!
Truth-o-meter Ruling
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Rihanna did not attend the 2024 Met Gala because she had the flu, People magazine reported.
Statement
Context
a Facebook postSpeaker/Target
Statement Date
Our Sources
Facebook post (archived), May 6, 2024
Reverse-image searches using Google Images and TinEye, May 8, 2024
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, Anna Wintour, and Zendaya to Co-Chair The Met’s Spring 2024 Costume Institute Benefit," Feb. 15, 2024
ExtraTV, "Rihanna Teases 'Simple' Met Gala Look & 'Amazing' New Music! (Exclusive)," April 27, 2024
People Magazine, "Rihanna Skips 2024 Met Gala After Coming Down with the Flu: Source (Exclusive)," May 6, 2024
The New York Times, "17 Looks That Did the Most at the Met Gala: Rihanna, Lil Nas X and More," May 2, 2023
Pop Base, X post, May 6, 2024
Getty Images, "Dua Lipa attends the 2024 Met Gala," May 6, 2024
The Washington Post, "How to spot the Trump and Pope AI fakes," March 31, 2023
Discover Magazine, "4 Ways to Spot AI Generated Photos," April 19, 2023
PolitiFact, "AI-generated images of Katy Perry at 2024 Met Gala fool social media users, Perry’s mother," May 7, 2024
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