Summary:
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The 2026 Met Gala raised $42 million, faced backlash over Bezos involvement, and featured a protest movement. Tech companies anchored funding.
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Protest group Everyone Hates Elon criticized Amazon, Mayor Mamdani skipped the gala, and stars like Zendaya were absent. Funds support museum collection.
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Counter-event Ball Without Billionaires featured up-and-coming designers, while Met director defended funds for museum preservation. Beyoncé co-chaired.
The 2026 Met Gala broke its own fundraising record Monday night, pulling in $42 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
It also pulled in something less typical for fashion’s biggest night: a coordinated protest movement, a counter-runway show and a sitting New York City mayor who refused to show up.
The friction came down to one couple. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, served as honorary co-chairs and lead sponsors of this year’s event, contributing a reported $10 million. Their involvement drew weeks of organized backlash, with critics dubbing the gala the “Bezos Ball” and the “Amazon Prime Gala.”
The fundraising figure topped last year’s then-record $31 million, with individual tickets priced at $100,000 and tables starting at $350,000. Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, Snapchat and Shopify all purchased tables, marking the first year tech companies anchored the event’s funding rather than fashion houses or studios.
A brief moment of chaos ensued at the #MetGala as a protester attempted to jump onto the carpet, before being stopped by security. pic.twitter.com/OzJOKzRjRD
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) May 4, 2026
The activist group Everyone Hates Elon led the protest campaign in the weeks leading up to the gala, plastering New York with posters slamming Amazon over worker treatment and its reported cloud contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Slogans were projected onto buildings near the Bezoses’ Madison Square Park penthouse, including “If You Can Buy the Met Gala, You Can Pay More Taxes” and “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala.”
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Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls was reportedly arrested at a barricade outside the event, according to The Independent. A separate counter-event called the Ball Without Billionaires took place in the Meatpacking District, organized as an outdoor runway show featuring up-and-coming designers and Amazon, Whole Foods and Washington Post workers. Actor and comedian Lisa Ann Walter emceed.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced in April he would skip the gala. Taraji P. Henson publicly criticized celebrities who attended, and Zendaya and Meryl Streep were among the high-profile names absent from the carpet. A representative for Streep told Page Six the actress has been invited for years but has never attended.
Met director Max Hollein defended the event ahead of the gala, telling CNN that the funds preserve the museum’s collection. “We will always be grateful for that support from various different sources,” he said.
The evening, themed “Costume Art” with a “Fashion Is Art” dress code, was co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Anna Wintour.
The accompanying “Costume Art” exhibition opens to the public May 10 and runs through January 10, 2027.
