The Met Gala has been marred by controversy before a celebrity has even set foot on the carpet, with huge names said to be skipping the event over the uneasy involvement of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez.
Anna Wintour, the global editorial director of Vogue, is said to have received at least $10 million from the Amazon founder to back the biggest event in the fashion calendar, per The Times.
Tonight (May 4), all eyes will be on the guest list – as well as their fantastical outfits – with the launch of the fashion exhibition Costume Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Bezos and Sánchez will be co-chairs of the dinner, but several big names will be absent, with some reportedly doing so out of objection to the transactional nature in which they were able to secure a seat at fashion’s top tables.
Meryl Streep, who appears on the cover of the May issue of American Vogue and plays Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada 2 — a role inspired by Wintour herself — is said to have turned down a co-hosting role at the Met Gala because of Bezos and Sánchez’s involvement.
The Met Gala takes place today.
Dress code: FASHION IS ART. pic.twitter.com/uxkFom78Gf
— Pop Base (@PopBase) May 4, 2026
Other familiar faces said to be missing the event include carpet mainstay Zendaya, and Zohran Mamdani, which breaks a decades-long tradition of New York mayors attending.
At various locations near the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, posters have popped up protesting the event, and read: “Bezos Met Gala: Brought to you by the firm that powers ICE” and “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala”.
As noted by the Guardian, the billionaires’ involvement in the Gala has also revived rumours that the Amazon founder will buy Condé Nast, the parent company of Vogue.
Companies including OpenAI, Meta, and Snapchat have bought up seats this year, with the Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla, rumoured to be attending for the first time. Individual tickets cost $100,000, up from last year’s $75,000.
At last year’s event, some fans were left confused after Rihanna didn’t appear, despite teasing her planned outfit earlier this year.
Elsewhere, Swifties were quick to notice how Lana Del Rey posed for photos with Kim Kardashian, despite the pop singer and reality star being in a feud, and comedian and actor Kathy Burke mocked Rita Ora’s outfit, implying that it looked like the beaded curtains that can be bought to prevent flies from entering your house.
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