For all its glitz and glamour, the Met Gala has long been a site of tension and protest. For the last five years, activists have taken advantage of the concentration of journalists and paparazzi that descend upon the fashion explosion to highlight a variety of issues.
But the Met Gala itself, with its $75,000 tickets and hordes of ultra-rich, has remained mostly impervious to the world outside of it. Some attendees have tried to draw attention to larger issues, but mostly to awkward effect (see Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's "TAX THE RICH" gown in 2021 and former Mayor Eric Adams's "END GUN VIOLENCE" waistcoat in 2022). And any opposition to the display of opulence and wealth is easily waved away as mere hating—it is a museum fundraiser, after all.
This year, though, the dress code is "Fashion Is Art," and the fury is directed towards the Met Gala's new underwriters. In November, Amazon overlord Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, thirsty interlopers who've been throwing money around for cachet among the fashion elite, were announced as the 2026 gala's main sponsors, donating an amount that Page Six speculated could be "seven figures." And in February, it was announced that the Bezoses would also be honorary chairs of the gala—just a few months after their wedding was featured on the cover of Vogue. While such a title might sound empty, all Met Gala chairs have a say in the guest list, raising speculation that the red carpet might be more MAGA than usual. Further, the Met Gala is viewed as the height of social positioning—this year's event will debut the Costume Institute's new 12,000 square-foot Condé M. Nast Galleries, named for Vogue's publisher—and some see this as the Bezoses' attempt to crown themselves as the top dogs in a new American oligarchy. (This is also, perhaps, another reason that Mayor Zohran Mamdani told Hell Gate he would not be attending, unlike the previous four mayors.)
With the Bezos involvement even raising the ire of politically agnostic fashion insiders, and anger towards billionaires reaching a fever pitch, such a display of inequity is ripe for disruption.
Enter: Everyone Hates Elon, a UK-based, global collective of anti-billionaire activists who have been orchestrating an effort to paste anti-Bezos posters and stickers all around New York City in the lead-up to the Met Gala on May 4. Perhaps best known for draping a huge banner outside the Bezos wedding last June that read, "If you can rent Venice you can pay more tax," the group's latest campaign includes posters depicting a tear-gas canister or a piss bottle on a red carpet, and subway ads emblazoned with lines like "Jeff Bezos Proudly Presents: The Met x Enabling ICE"—referring to data contracts the conglomerate has with the deportation agency, and the Amazon workers whose lack of bathroom breaks has led some to relieve themselves in water bottles.
