Cleveland’s own MGK and Dakota Johnson just gave the rumor mill its freshest fuel yet — and this time there are photos to go with it.

The pair stepped out in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, November 11, for an evening that started classy and ended at nearly 3 in the morning. First stop: a screening of Johnson’s new short film Flesh Impact, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and made in honor of Marilyn Monroe’s centennial birthday, with Johnson starring as the blonde bombshell. MGK — real name Colson Baker — was right there supporting her.

Johnson dressed the part for her own premiere, in a sheer strapless Valentino look with more than $30,000 worth of diamond jewelry, before switching into a zebra-print coat and baggy jeans for the rest of the night. MGK kept it decidedly more low-key: baggy jeans, a white T-shirt, dressed for a dive bar while she looked red-carpet ready.

From there it was dinner at the Tower Bar inside the Sunset Tower Hotel, and then — the part everyone is talking about — the two headed to MGK’s recording studio, where they stayed into the early morning hours. Photos circulating online show them leaving the studio at about 2:40 a.m., walking hand in hand, with MGK helping Johnson down the stairs.

Here’s the honest part: neither of them has publicly confirmed they’re a couple. Sources told People they’ve been quietly seeing each other since meeting at Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding back in July, and that the dynamic is still casual. The hand-holding photos are real; the relationship label is still rumor. Don’t call them a confirmed couple — call it what it is: the most public night out yet for Hollywood’s worst-kept almost-secret.

For Toledo readers, the Cleveland connection is the whole point. MGK is ours — the kid who came up in Cleveland, shouted out the city every chance he got, and just last week was drawing lines about AI in the studio. Now he’s at the center of the fall’s buzziest almost-romance, and the whole internet is watching to see what happens next.

Sources: W Magazine · InStyle · Just Jared

Dakota Johnson at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.