The annual “Jason Derulo falling down the stairs at the Met Gala” tradition is back.
Every year during the Met Gala (and sometimes at other major events at this point), a popular meme resurfaces on social media: Jason Derulo falling down the stairs.
The ongoing joke has circulated for over a full decade since 2015.
Each year, there are still people who believe that the news is real, and that the 36-year-old “Savage Love” singer truly took a tumble at the star-studded gala. He did not.
As the 2026 Met Gala red carpet begins, users are already cracking the decade-old joke once again. No, he didn’t fall down the stairs. But how did it all get started?
Jason Derulo did not fall down the Met Gala stairs
Jason Derulo did not fall down the stairs at the Met Gala. In fact, he’s never even attended the event.
The first version of the joke is credited to @dashausofjack, a since-suspended account which tweeted the photo with the caption: “Jason Derulo just fell at #MetGala. LMAO.”
At the time, Jason Derulo reacted on Instagram, writing: “Lmao I’m at rehearsal in LA. Fuq ya’ll! Lol.”
So who really did fall down the stairs at the Met Gala? Nobody!
Who is the person in the viral photo?
The photo that most often circulates with the meme actually dates back to over a decade ago, when a real stair-related incident happened at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in France.
At the event, an unnamed man was trying to crash the event, and even attempted to perform a stunt on the red carpet in honor of French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo at the screening of The Beaver, according to Newsweek.
As security rushed to grab him, he fell down the stairs. That unnamed man did fall. But it wasn’t Jason Derulo. And it wasn’t even at the Met Gala
What Jason Derulo has said about the meme
In a YouTube video after the meme went viral, he said: “I was actually in rehearsals in L.A. The Met Gala was actually in New York…and I just thought it was hilarious.”
“My grandmother, she’s 93-years-old, she called me. She’s like ‘Are you alright? I heard you fell down the stairs.’ I was like ‘Grandma, I’m good. I ain’t fall down no stairs.’”
And now you know the true origin of the Jason Derulo meme, which will almost surely continue to pop up at each and every Met Gala and red carpet event on social media.
What to expect at this year’s Met Gala
The 2026 Met Gala is being held on Monday evening (May 4) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The theme this year is “Costume Art,” the spring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. It’s dedicated to “the centrality of the dressed body in the museum’s vast collection.” The exhibit at the museum pairs attire with all sorts of artwork across 5,000 years.
From Vogue: “‘Costume Art,’ curated by Andrew Bolton, will explore the relationship between clothing and the body beneath. The show—organized into a series of thematic body types, ranging from the Naked Body to the Pregnant Body and the Aging Body—will include garments and artworks from across The Met’s vast collection, and feature both historical and contemporary pieces from the Costume Institute. Moreover, ‘Costume Art’ will be the first show held in The Met’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, a nearly 12,000-square-foot space adjacent to the Great Hall.”
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