Katy Perry’s Own Mom Was Fooled By That Viral AI-Generated Image Of The Star At This Year’s Met Gala

In case you didn’t know, yesterday was Met Gala Monday, which means that some of the biggest names in the world descended on New York City as the rest of us waited with bated breath to see their 2024 looks.

The theme for this year’s gala was “Garden of Time,” a reference to the 1962 short story of the same name. The theme was used in conjunction with the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.

As seen every year, not all gala guests appeared to follow this theme with their outfits. However, there were plenty of A-listers who served on the cream and green carpet.

Zendaya undoubtedly led the Best Dressed list for the night, with Taylor Russell, Tyla, and Rebecca Ferguson also among those who completely nailed the brief.

And when a photo of Katy Perry landed on everybody’s social media timelines on Monday night, it was universally agreed that she had one of the best looks of the evening.

Twitter @jxries / Via Twitter: @jxries

In the image, Katy couldn’t be more on theme in a stunning gown embellished with flowers, butterflies, and an attention-grabbing moss trim.

“Katy Perry. That’s it. #MetGala,” a tweet read alongside the photo, and the post quickly went viral. At the time of writing, it has more than 13 million views, and hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets.

There’s only one problem: The photo is completely AI-generated. In fact, even the stairs in the picture aren’t accurate as they were actually taken from the 2018 gala, not this year’s event.

Within minutes of this photo being debunked, a second image of Katy at the Met appeared online, this time showing her in a bronze corset and green foliage mini skirt — once again nailing the “Garden of Time” theme… And once again being an AI-generated fake.

Twitter @older_days / Via Twitter: @older_days

As it happens, Katy didn’t actually end up attending this year’s Met Gala, but if you fell for either of the photos suggesting that she did, then you are not the only one.

Taking to her Instagram page on Monday night, Katy shared the AI-generated images with her 207 million followers as she revealed that her own mom believed that the first one was really her.

The star posted a screenshot of her and her mom’s text conversation about the situation, with Katy’s mom sending the photo to her and writing: “Ha Feather! Didn’t know you went to the Met 💥 💥 💥 What a gorgeous gown, you look like the Rose Parade, you are your own float lol.”

Katy replied: “lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!"

Katy ended her Instagram carousel with a video of herself in a recording studio, explaining in her post’s caption: “couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work.”

And Katy isn’t the only star whose absence disappointed on Met Gala night, with fans left devastated when Rihanna didn’t make her highly anticipated comeback — despite being expected to attend.

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• Here's What Absolutely Everyone Wore To The 2024 Met GalaMychal Thompson · May 6, 2024

• Taylor Russell's Optical Illusion Met Gala Dress Made Her Look Like A SculptureChelsea Stewart · May 6, 2024