Selena Gomez, the famous pop star, has once again grabbed the limelight – this time with her seemingly stunning appearance at the 2023 Met Gala. There’s only one problem: she wasn’t actually there. A cleverly edited image of Gomez has taken the internet by storm, leaving millions of fans in awe of her “look” at the star-studded event.
The Viral Tweet
On Monday evening, an image surfaced on Twitter appearing to show Selena Gomez walking the Met Gala carpet. It turns out that the photo was a clever manipulation of Lily James’ 2022 Met Gala appearance, with Gomez’s face superimposed on the image. The fan-edited photo teased a “surprise appearance” by Gomez, sending Twitter into a frenzy.
Despite being fake, the image garnered a whopping 22.9 million views and 395,300 likes, making it the most liked photo from the event – even surpassing authentic pictures of attendees like Anne Hathaway, whose photo received 234,000 likes.
SELENA GOMEZ DID A SURPRISE APPEARANCE AT THE #MetGala WTF pic.twitter.com/qnGxuUKsRK
— 𝐊𝐄𝐕 (@kevormez) May 2, 2023
Twitter’s Disclaimer
In response to the viral sensation, Twitter added a disclaimer to the post, clarifying that the images were “altered” and that Gomez has not attended the Met Gala since 2018. However, this didn’t stop numerous Twitter users from continuing to gush over her fabricated appearance.
Selena Gomez’s Silence
Gomez has yet to address the controversy surrounding the viral photo, leaving fans to speculate on her reaction to the unexpected attention.
Not the First AI-Generated Image Hoax
This incident is a reminder that AI-generated image hoaxes have fooled the public before. In March, a fake image of Pope Francis wearing a white puffer coat went viral, amassing 4.4 million views. As technology advances, it’s important to stay vigilant and question the authenticity of images before taking them at face value.