The real reason why Rihanna skipped the 2024 Met Gala

As Julie Andrews so kindly reminded us The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement, a queen is never late, everyone else is just always. The same can be said about Rihanna’s appearances at the Met Gala, especially after she consecutively arrived so far behind schedule that publications had already wrapped up their red carpet livestreams and photographers were packing up to go home.

So when Cardi B (plus her dress’s nine attendants) and Zendaya officially closed the red carpet after a sharp two-hour stint, netizens naturally eagerly awaited Rihanna and A$AP Rocky’s ascent up the famous steps of the Metropolitan Museum or Art.

Unfortunately for sartorial enthusiasts, that moment came and went when Rihanna skipped the Met Gala altogether because she reportedly stayed home with the flu. Call in sick on the fashion night of the night? Celebrities, they’re just like us!

The couple had recently made headlines while opening a Puma x Fenty store 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 with her new sweet look. The duo joined Met Gala greats like Blake Lively, Zoë Kravitz, Hailey Bieber and Billie Eililsh, who were also not in attendance.

However, thanks to the power of AI, generated images of celebrities in costume began circulating on social media to compensate for these absences. Katy Perry even took it upon herself to reshare an AI-created photo of herself on the Met steps with her 207 million Instagram followers.

“I couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work,” the pop star captioned her post. In the words of Sabrina Carpenter, she works late because she’s a singer! Unfortunately, Rihanna didn’t share that excuse, which meant her highly anticipated seventh studio album might never be released. How fitting.