Met Gala faces backlash after Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez named honorary chairs

The billionaire Amazon founder’s involvement swiftly led to boycotts and criticism of the event.

Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber and Beyoncé were among the A-listers who hit the red carpet at Monday night’s Met Gala – but the annual fundraiser was somewhat overshadowed by controversy this year, as numerous big names skipped the event amid criticism of its co-chairs.

Overseen by former Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who now serves as global chief content officer for publisher Condé Nast, the gala raises millions of dollars for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

But in a highly-controversial move, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez-Bezos this year paid a rumoured $10 million (Ksh. 1.2 billion) to sponsor and co-host the prestigious evening.

One of the organisers, who asked to remain anonymous, told US media that Bezos was using the event to “launder his image”, adding: “He’s sipping champagne, while his actions are affecting people all over the world. He’s buying favour, quite literally.”

The couple’s involvement led to protests ahead of the big night and at various locations near the venue, posters popped up with the words: “Bezos Met Gala: Brought to you by the firm that powers ICE” and “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala."

Amazon workers then staged their own ‘Ball without Billionaires’ in New York on Monday afternoon, while another activist group placed nearly 300 miniature bottles of fake urine throughout the Met museum in reference to multiple employees at Amazon claiming they don’t get bathroom breaks.

In the weeks leading up to this year’s event, members of the British activist group Everyone Hates Elon took to the streets of New York City to voice their opposition to the 2026 Met Gala. 

Around the city, various ads were hacked by the activist group, like one in a bus stop that read: “The Bezos Met Gala invites you to party like it’s 1939.”

In another ad, this one inside a subway car, a poster with the Met’s red colorway said: “Jeff Bezos Proudly Presents the Met x enabling ICE,” a reference to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which uses Amazon’s AWS cloud services.

Inside the Met Museum Gift Shop, the activist group placed parody merchandise, including “The Bezos Met Gala” decorative plates with taglines including “the world’s most expensive midlife crisis” and “from the man whose servers power ICE.” 

Nevertheless, the show went on, with this year’s theme as “Costume Art” and the dress code “Fashion Is Art”.

On the night, even appearances from the Kardashian-Jenner clan and Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy making her debut at the so-called “Oscars of the fashion world” couldn’t distract from the absent stars, as the likes of Zendaya, Meryl Streep, Ne York mayor Zhoran Mamdani and Timothée Chalamet snubbed the event.

And while many maintained a diplomatic silence on their absence, some were more vocal about their decisions.

In a video posted on Instagram over the weekend, comedian and podcaster Meredith Lynch called out celebrities planning to wear “ICE out” badges to the Met Gala, referencing the fact the Amazon boss supported Donald Trump in the run-up to his second term as US president.

"Jeff Bezos is part of the reason we’re in this f***ing mess,” she said. “It is wild to me that this event is sponsored by Jeff Bezos, who has backed Trump, who has slashed arts funding.”

Lynch’s rallying cry won support from Empire actor Taraji P. Henson, who commented: “I am so confused by some ppl that are going. I am just like WTF ARE WE DOING!?!?!?!”

Meanwhile, several blocks down from the museum, activists also took to Bezos’s $80 million penthouse in NYC’s trendy NoMad neighborhood, projecting a video message from a 72-year-old Amazon worker from North Carolina.

“Remember, Jeff, ordinary people like myself that help make you billionaires—if we built it, we can tear it down,” the worker, identified as Mary, says in the video. “Think about that tonight.”