Ryan Gosling and Johnny Depp Never Actually Hung Out at Comic-Con, and Eva Mendes Wants Everyone to Know It
San Diego Comic-Con always brings out a flood of candid celebrity photos, cosplay chaos, and viral moments that fans spend days dissecting online. This year’s convention was no different, with countless clips and images circulating from the weekend showing stars mingling with fans and each other around the convention center. Amid all that noise, one image in particular started making the rounds for showing two of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces walking the streets together.
The picture appeared to show Ryan Gosling and Johnny Depp strolling through the Comic-Con crowd side by side, accompanied by a third figure. It was posted by the Instagram account Opavisions, which regularly shares AI generated content featuring a character called Slopaxo interacting with real celebrities, and the account did not initially make it clear that the image was AI. The caption read that some of their favorite moments from Comic-Con weren’t on stage, describing Gosling, Depp, and Slopaxo moving through the crowds like an unlikely best friend trio.
That framing did not sit well with Gosling’s longtime partner Eva Mendes, who quickly spotted the post and commented directly beneath it. Mendes wrote that the image was fake and asked the account to let people know when they are putting out AI content. Her comment picked up steam fast, with plenty of social media users applauding her for pushing back on misleading AI imagery involving her family.
Opavisions responded with a flurry of comments after being called out. The account first replied with a quick apology, then followed up by calling itself a big fan of Mendes and praising her movies. In a third comment, the account finally added a disclaimer confirming the image was AI, thanked Mendes for speaking up, and admitted it would be more transparent going forward, while also crediting ‘The Nice Guys’ and ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ as major influences on the kind of stories it hopes to create someday.
The response also mistakenly referenced Ghost Rider as one of Mendes’ films, despite her never appearing in it. According to a report from TheWrap, the Opavisions account has since disabled comments on the original post entirely.
While the meetup never happened, both actors did make real appearances at the convention over the weekend, just not together. Depp showed up in character as Ebenezer Scrooge to promote his upcoming Christmas film ‘Ebenezer,’ and later crashed Collider’s Directors on Directors panel while still in costume. Gosling, meanwhile, was there promoting his own separate project, giving the AI image an air of plausibility that likely helped it spread as far as it did.
The exchange lands at a moment when AI generated celebrity content is becoming harder to distinguish from reality, forcing stars and their loved ones to actively police what gets attributed to them online. Mendes and Gosling have been together since filming ‘The Place Beyond the Pines’ in 2011, and this is far from the first time fabricated content involving Hollywood A listers has made the rounds unchecked. What do you think should happen to accounts that keep blurring the line between real celebrity moments and AI fabrications like this one?
