Who was really at the VMAs? The AI red carpet looks that fooled fans

You’re scrolling social media and get excited to see your favourite celebrity on a red carpet - but what if they were never actually there?

The MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) is an annual event celebrating the best in music. But at the 2026 VMAs, some of the viral looks on the red carpet, or blue carpet in this year’s case, had something in common - they weren’t real.

Read on with BBC Bitesize Other Side of the Story to find out what happened and how you can spot the fake from the fabulous!

Images of Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry on the VMA’s blue carpet went viral on social media with users commenting on their glamorous outfits, hair and makeup. But… none of these celebrities were actually at the event!

Ariana Grande recently announced she’d be taking a step back from the limelight for her wellbeing. Lady Gaga has just welcomed a new baby. Katy Perry had a performance at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Azerbaijan on the evening of 25 September, making it difficult to get back to LA in time.

That didn't stop fans from being fooled by these realistic AI images with users taking to social media to share their shock. One person commented on a photo of Katy Perry: "her AI image is getting more and more accurate".

As technology develops and improves, AI images are looking more and more real every day. It can be difficult to work out whether something is an actual photograph or if it has been generated using AI.

Social media platforms are very busy when major pop culture events like the VMAs happen. As people share photos and videos from the event, others like, repost and spread them even further.

Sometimes accounts use the viral buzz for 'engagement farming': they may share misleading posts to gain likes and reposts in order promote something.

On X, user @buffys gained 985K views and 26K likes on an AI image of Ariana Grande at the VMAs with the caption "ARIANA GRANDE ₙₒₜ AT THE #VMAS"

How long did it take you to notice the word "not" in the caption? When you're scrolling quickly, it's easy to miss - people may not read things closely but might like and repost it anyway. And by using the related hashtag, this post got mixed up with posts about the actual event. @buffys then used the engagement to promote Ariana Grande's album, Petal.

Many famous faces were at the event including RAYE, Sombr, musical legend Madonna and more.

• Taylor Swift won multiple awards including the Video of the Year award for The Fate of Ophelia. She also premiered her new music video for Patient Zero.
• Blackpink’s Lisa won the Best Pop award for Dream featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi.
• PinkPantheress took home her first VMA, winning the Best Art Direction award for the Stateside remix with Zara Larsson.

Take a look at their blue carpet photos: the background is consistent, the carpet is the same colour and texture, there are no distorted lines and they're all stood on the same circular plaque, a designated spot for celeb photos.

The stars also took to their social media accounts to share their wins and they were mentioned in trusted news websites.

Next time there's a major celeb event, see if you can spot the difference and separate the AI looks from the real thing.

This article was published in September 2026.

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