RYAN GOSLING HAS destroyed an entire corner of the internet by claiming that he has never uttered his famous catchphrase “Hey girl”.

Speaking at the South By Southwest festival Gosling has said that he has no idea where the Feminist Ryan Gosling meme began.

The meme took images of Gosling and coupled them with pro-equality phrases.

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There was even a book.

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There was also a Hey Girl meme (which actually came first) which simply paid tribute to Gosling’s ‘regulation hottie’ looks and genial demeanour.

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However at a panel at SXSW to chat about his directorial debut Lost River, Gosling has said:

The thing is, I’ve never said it. I understand if you’re in a movie and you say something like, ‘I’ll be back,’ like you gotta own that. You said that. But I never said this. I didn’t even know about it. I go on the street and some guy goes, ‘Hey girl’.

Bustle claims that that “Hey girl” might in fact be the first time Gosling has ever publicly said it.

That’s not the case though:

The origin of the meme appears to have been traced back to a 2008 Tumblr blog called F*ck Yeah! Ryan Gosling, run by Douglas Reinhardt.

Jezebel picked it up in early 2009, and the rest is history.

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