{"id":220150,"date":"2026-05-05T02:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220150\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T02:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:04:15","slug":"rollicking-protest-against-bezoss-met-gala-erupts-in-manhattan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/220150\/","title":{"rendered":"Rollicking Protest Against Bezos’s Met Gala Erupts in Manhattan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The small but joyful action drew dozens of concerned, costumed citizens in a show of defiance against the Amazon billionaire.<\/p>\n


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\"Rollicking
\n Designer Wendy Brandes flaunts her “Eat the Rich” gown at a protest near the Met Gala on May 4, 2026. (photo Valentina Di Liscia\/Hyperallergic, all others Isa Farfan\/Hyperallergic unless otherwise noted)<\/p>\n

As fashion\u2019s elite strutted up the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, tinted an eerie, mildewy green for the Met Gala tonight, May 4, a small but rollicking crowd of protesters unfurled its own red carpet just a few blocks away. Orchestrated by the NYC-based advocacy group Rise and Resist, the action drew dozens of concerned, costumed citizens in a show of defiance against the billionaire class and Jeff Bezos, who is co-chairing this year\u2019s event with his wife, Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such an exercise in triviality and an ostentatious display of wealth and power a time when so many Americans are under serious, serious threat,\u201d Jay W. Walker, the event\u2019s emcee, told Hyperallergic. <\/p>\n

The outfits gracing the \u201cResistance Runway\u201d tackled grave encroachments on trans rights, warned of impending fascism, and advocated for \u201ceating the rich.\u201d But as participants formed an impromptu sidewalk dance party to the tune of ABBA’s \u201cMoney, Money, Money,\u201d Walker described the event as \u201camazingly joyous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Rise and Resist members hold a sign calling for increased taxes on the billionaire class. \"\"Demonstrators during an impromptu street dance party<\/p>\n

The Met Gala has long been a flashpoint for social issues. In 2024, pro-Palestine activists were arrested<\/a> during a protest across Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side, when hundreds marched under the banner \u201cNo Met Gala while bombs drop in Gaza.\u201d The previous year, the gala drew sharp condemnations<\/a> over its honoree, Karl Lagerfeld, notorious for his vocal expressions of racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia.<\/p>\n

But this year\u2019s explicit association with Bezos \u2014 whose company Amazon is actively profiting<\/a> from President Donald Trump\u2019s brutal immigration crackdown, who laid off one-third of staff at the Washington Post<\/a>, who paid $75 million for the Melania documentary<\/a> \u2014 made the fundraiser a particularly glaring illustration of political apathy. One protest sign tonight offered a cynical imagining of Bezos’s inner monologue: \u201cThank you for endorsing my ICE collaboration by dressing up for this moral shit show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following weeks of outcry, the billionaire was reportedly<\/a> a no-show on The Met\u2019s red carpet, where his wife walked alone.<\/p>\n

\"\"Activists denounced The Met’s association with Bezos.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision by these celebrities to show up to the Met Gala, despite Jeff Bezos chairing it, seems to me like an endorsement of the systematic violence that he and others like him perpetuate,\u201d Elle Feneide, a political science and English double major at Manhattan University, told Hyperallergic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Feneide held up her paint-splattered sign with the words \u201cYour red carpet is stained with blood\u201d above hordes of journalists and spectators who squeezed behind the barricades at 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue, desperate to catch a glimpse of the A-listers. It was the only visible sign of resistance at the Met Gala entrance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Elle Feneide, a student, holds up a sign outside the Met Gala. (photo Valentina Di Liscia\/Hyperallergic)<\/p>\n

Though on-the-ground expressions were minimal tonight, activists have been rallying against the Met Gala for weeks, with the British group Everyone Hates Elon driving much of the effort. It was responsible for a massive boycott projection<\/a> on the facade of Bezos\u2019s Manhattan penthouse last night, a series of posters depicting tear-gas canisters<\/a> wheatpasted across the city, and the covert placement of 300 bottles of fake urine<\/a> throughout the museum, a reference to the strains endured<\/a> by Amazon delivery drivers.<\/p>\n

Cherie A., an activist with Rise and Resist who twirled down the makeshift runway in a skirt assembled of climate protest signs, told Hyperallergic that the group was founded by former members of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power<\/a> (ACT UP) to instigate political action via creative dissent. Among its many demonstrations, Rise and Resist rallied to oppose\u00a0charges against two climate activists<\/a>\u00a0who\u00a0smeared paint\u00a0on the protective casing of an Edgar Degas work in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"A performer with the “strategic satire” group Trillionaires for Trump\"\"Cherie A.’s outfit warned of climate disaster.<\/p>\n

Karin Shaw, a protester in a bubblegum-pink Statue of Liberty crown who identified as “a post-menopausal woman who has less rights than my mother did 35 years ago,” emphasized the urgency of tonight\u2019s demonstration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’re here because Jeff Bezos and everything that he represents is destroying this country and this world,\u201d Shaw told Hyperallergic. \u201cFascism in this country should not be pushed over for the sake of fashion for one night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Outfits supported trans rights, workers’ rights, and other struggles. \"\"Nilber Remon, a member of Rise and Resist, drew loud applause.\"\"Protesters held signs against Amazon’s contracts with federal immigration agencies.\"\"A signs describes the Met Gala as “a moral shit show.”\"\"Bezos’s imagined “bucket list” on one protester’s poster<\/p>\n