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As Julie Andrews so kindly reminded us in The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement, a Queen is never late, everybody else is simply ever. The same can be said for Rihanna’s appearances at the Met Gala—especially after she consecutively arrived so far behind schedule that publications had already concluded their red carpet live streams and photographers were packing up to go home.
So when Cardi B (plus her dress’ nine handlers) and Zendaya officially closed the red carpet after a sharp two-hour window, netizens were naturally eagerly awaiting Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s ascent up the famed Metropolitan Museum of Art steps.
Unfortunately for sartorialists, that moment came and went with Rihanna skipping out on the Met Gala altogether because she reportedly stayed home with the flu. Calling in sick to work fashion’s night of nights? Celebrities, they’re just like us!
The couple had recently made headlines at a Puma x Fenty store opening in Miami during the Grand Prix. The musician-turned-makeup mogul also debuted a bubblegum pink hairstyle at the event, robbing us of a history-making Met Gala look featuring her new saccharine look. The duo joined the likes of Met Gala mainstays including Blake Lively, Zoë Kravitz, Hailey Bieber and Billie Eililsh who also didn’t attend.
Thanks to the power of AI, however, generated images of celebrities in costume began circulating on social media to make up for these absences. Katy Perry even took it upon herself to reshare an AI-created photo of herself on the Met steps to her 207 million Instagram followers.
“Couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work,” the pop star captioned her post. In the words of Sabrina Carpenter, she’s working late ‘cause she’s a singer! Sadly, Rihanna didn’t share in that excuse, meaning that her highly-anticipated seventh studio album might never arrive. How fitting.
