Did Jason Derulo Fall Down The Stairs? The Origins Of the Hilarious Met Gala Meme

There are few things that are certain in life apart from death, taxes and the Jason Derulo falling down the stairs meme resurfacing for every major red carpet event.

As this year's Met Gala seems set to be no different, we're pre-emptively debunking the perennial meme.

So, Did Jason Derulo Actually Fall Down The Stairs?

Unfortunately for meme lovers (but fortunately for Derulo), this now-iconic photograph of a man falling down a set of stairs is not the "Tip Toe" singer.

According to Know Your Meme, the first instance of this picture being misidentified as Derulo was in May 2015.

The first iteration of it is credited to a since-suspended account with the handle @dashausofjack, which tweeted the photo with the caption: "Jason Derulo just fell at #MetGala. LMAO."

The tweet spread like wildfire across the platform, with some manual retweets still viewable now.

At the time, some media outlets were quick to debunk the meme, including HuffPost.

Derulo himself, who has never attended the prestigious New York event, even posted the picture on his own Instagram with the caption: "Lmao I'm at rehearsal in LA. Fuq ya'll! Lol."

The Instagram post has since been deleted, but a link to the post with the same caption was shared to his Twitter account and is still live.

In a YouTube video posted later that month on the channel Audacy News, the 31-year-old explained: "I was actually in rehearsals in L.A. The Met Gala was actually in New York... and I just thought it was hilarious."

Though he saw the funny side, he added that the rumor did cause concern among his family members, as he continued: "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,'" he laughed.

Despite this, the photo routinely goes viral all over again with people tweeting it and sharing that Derulo has fallen down the stairs at yet another star-studded event.

It has been shared during the red carpet of the Oscars, Golden Globes, and the Met Gala (again). One Twitter user even got creative and suggested Derulo had fallen down the stairs of the Emmys in 2020, which were conducted on Zoom.

It occasionally even collides with other popular and timely memes, like the Milk Crate Challenge and Chinese Rocket.

What's the Real Story Behind the Photo?

Now that we know this is not a photo of R&B star Jason Derulo falling down the stairs, who really did take a tumble?

The photo actually dates back to 2011 and was not taken at the Met Gala, but at Cannes Film Festival in France.

According to captions provided by photographers who caught the incident on camera, an unnamed man had been trying to gatecrash the event.

The man had attempted to perform a stunt on the red carpet before a ceremony in honor of French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo and the screening of The Beaver.

As security rushed to grab him, he fell down the stairs.

The moment was captured by the many photographers present to snap pictures of the film industry elite, only to then become immortalized as a meme four years later.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Derulo for comment.