Former and current adult stars Mia Khalifa and Lana Rhoades have become topics of discussion regarding the World Cup. A photo of them spread rapidly across social media during the match between the United States and Paraguay on June 12. The image showed Mia Khalifa—a former adult star turned model and fashion brand owner—at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, seemingly there to support the US team. Beside her was fellow adult star Lana Rhoades. Captured by television cameras, the image gave the impression that they were enjoying the match—which the US won 4–1 against Paraguay—from the stands. However, that was not the case at all; they did not actually witness US striker Folarin Balogun’s two goals from the stadium, as it was later revealed that the image had been created using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Although many had already realized the photo was fake based on Mia Khalifa’s Instagram posts, she decided to comment on the matter publicly. Responding to a post featuring the viral image, Khalifa wrote, “It’s AI. You’ll never catch me wearing a Team USA hat.” With this nine-word sentence, she denied the authenticity of the image. While Khalifa distanced herself from the photo, Lana Rhoades handled the situation differently, reacting to the AI-generated image with humor. Posting the photo on her own social media, she wrote that she had stepped out to support her country in the World Cup. Even after the AI origin of the photo was confirmed, social media users continued to joke about it. One user wrote, “Now I understand why Paraguay was playing on only half the field; the whole team was distracted, staring at the VIP box. It was a tactical battle!” Another commented, “Oh, now I get why the US was winning!” Meanwhile, the host nation, the United States, delivered a stellar performance on the field. Mauricio Pochettino’s team played attacking football right from the start. The United States took an early lead when Paraguay’s Damián Bobadilla inadvertently turned Weston McKennie’s cross into his own net.
The US continued to pile on the pressure. Although Folarin Balogun had a goal disallowed for offside, he made no mistake shortly afterwards, extending the lead by finishing off a brilliant attacking move set up by Christian Pulisic.
