4 A-Listers Boycott Met Gala as Jeff Bezos Sponsorship Draws Street Protests
Updated
Updated · Her Campus · May 19
4 A-Listers Boycott Met Gala as Jeff Bezos Sponsorship Draws Street Protests
8 articles · Updated · Her Campus · May 19
Meryl Streep, Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa and Zendaya skipped this year’s Met Gala, with the report tying their withdrawn RSVPs to Jeff Bezos’s role as a lead sponsor and honorary chair.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s sponsorship became the flashpoint, turning the gala into a broader argument over whether fashion should celebrate billionaires amid war, poverty and environmental decline.
Outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, protesters carried signs including “tax the rich” and “billionaires for a dead planet,” underscoring anger over wealth inequality and corporate power.
The boycott framed celebrity absence itself as the statement, suggesting that refusing the red carpet can carry more political weight than attending in support of a sponsor-backed spectacle.
After a celebrity boycott, can high-fashion events survive their ties to controversial billionaires?
Is 'fashion activism' a genuine force for social change, or just another runway trend?
When public protest targets sponsors, where is the line between philanthropy and public relations?