By The Canadian Press

Fact File: Photos of Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry on Grammys red carpet are fake

Feb 2, 2026 | 1:35 PM

On Sunday, photos appeared online that seemed to show former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his partner Katy Perry on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. The photos are fake. The Getty Images watermark on the photos does not match the real logo of the photo supplier, and the credited photographer does not seem to exist. Photo archives, media reports and the social media accounts of Trudeau and Perry show no evidence that either of them attended the ceremony.

THE CLAIM

“Katy Perry and her boyfriend, Justin Trudeau at the GRAMMYs pre-show red carpet!!!!” reads the caption of a post Sunday on the X platform, formerly Twitter.

Posted the night of the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, the X post shows two photos of the former prime minister and his pop-star partner posing together on the red carpet. A Getty Images watermark appears on both photos, which are credited to “Andrew Brian.”

The photos appeared in several other posts on X, Threads. Another X post included solo photos of Perry on the red carpet, with the same Getty Images watermark and photographer credit.

THE FACTS


A closer look at the Getty Images watermark on the photos shows inconsistencies with the photo supplier’s real logo.

The bottom loop on the lowercase g does not connect, but in the real logo it does. The cross stroke on the two lowercase t’s connects both letters, but in the real logo there is a space between them.

A Google search of the supposed photographer, Andrew Brian, shows that while there are a few people with the same name who advertise themselves as photographers, none appears to have a working relationship with Getty Images.

A search of the photographer’s name on the Getty Images website shows no one with the name Andrew Brian is credited as photographer for any of its photos.

Red carpet photos from other media, the Grammy’s official social media and the Getty Images archive show the red carpet backdrop Sunday was different from the one depicted in the Trudeau-Perry photos, and the couple do not appear in any red carpet photo roundups.

Neither Perry nor Trudeau mentioned the Grammys on their social media pages, and their last public appearance as a couple was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 20. The Getty Images archive and Perry’s most recent Instagram post show her last solo public appearance was at the Joy Awards in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 17.

The fake red carpet photos originated from a Katy Perry fan account on X; before posting the photos of Trudeau and Perry together, the account posted several photos of Perry alone on the red carpet.

The account did not give any indication the photos it posted were fakes, though the version with both Trudeau and Perry now has a community note attached, which notes the couple did not attend the red carpet or ceremony together.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2026.

Marissa Birnie, The Canadian Press