A Fake Photo of Selena Gomez at the 2023 Met Gala Went Viral on Twitter—and Got More Likes Than Any Real Look
Selena Gomez chose to skip this year’s Met Gala, returning to California after wrapping Only Murders in the Building, which shoots in New York City, a week before the big day. (She was photographed in Hollywood, getting dinner with her sister on Monday, April 24.) But that didn’t stop one fan from creating a Photoshopped image of Gomez in Lily James’ Met Gala 2022 dress that ended up going viral on Twitter—and receiving more likes than anyone’s real Met Gala look on the platform, as celebrity news fan account PopFaction pointed out.
Twitter added fact-checking context to the post, pointing out that Gomez did not attend this year. Still, over 22 million people viewed the image, and 392,900+ people liked it, a testament to Gomez’s popularity and how badly fans want to see her Met Gala return.
Anne Hathaway’s Versace look was the real most-liked dress from the 2023 Met Gala, with a photo of Hathaway in it getting 233,500+ likes and over 12.2 million views on Twitter. Still, Gomez’s fake look received over 100,000 more likes and 10 million more views. Her power:
Here’s James, who really wore the Atelier Versace dress, posing at the 2022 Met Gala in it:
Gomez last attended the Met Gala in 2018. She later called the night one of her biggest beauty disasters because of her fake tan. “While I was getting ready for the Met Gala a few years ago, we put on a bit of tanning lotion and it looked beautiful, but as the night went on it kept getting darker and darker,” she told Glamour UK in February 2022. “When I sat down [inside the event], I saw a photo of myself, and it looked completely orange. And here I am at this prestigious event. My first thought was, ‘I have to get out of here!’”
Gomez, in good humor, shared security footage of herself leaving that Met Gala night on her Instagram. “Me when I saw my pictures from MET ????????♀️,” she captioned it.
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.