As celebrities trickled into the Met Gala on Monday, a protester named Elle Feneide stood atop a police barricade across the street, holding a sign directed at high-profile guests and Jeff Bezos, one of the evening's biggest backers. The sign read: "Your red carpet is stained with BLOOD."
Feneide, 21, told HuffPost that the recent death of an Amazon warehouse worker and other reported human rights abuses at the company motivated her demonstration. "I believe that if you shake hands with murderers, there's blood on your hands, too," she said. "Everybody involved with the Met Gala this year has made a kind of endorsement of his actions and the systematic violence that he perpetrates."
Labor practices at Amazon were among the hot topics on the streets as Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, mingled with big-name invitees inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shielded by walls, tents, and layers of security.
Protests and Backlash
It was almost inevitable that the gala would face backlash after the couple was announced as lead sponsors and later honorary chairs for the Costume Institute's premier fundraising event. Page Six reported the couple paid "at least $10 million."
Fashion journalist Amy Odell told HuffPost that the gala "invites the public to celebrate and gaze upon some of the most privileged people in the world," which has become increasingly problematic amid growing income inequality since the pandemic. "The gala is very opulent and lavish, so having the basis to pay for it doesn't do anything to make that less pronounced," she said.
Protesters from Rise and Resist, a New York-based nonviolent action group, staged a "Resistance Red Carpet" just blocks from the Met's entrance. They donned sparkly outfits and held signs against ICE and Bezos's support for President Donald Trump. One sign read "TAX THE RICH," while another called Trump a "pedophile, racist and traitor."
Wendy Brandes, 58, wore a Mother Nature-inspired outfit with paper headwear reading "TAX THE RICH" and "WHITE MEN RUIN EVERYTHING." She said, "The billionaires are destroying everything. That's why they're trying to get off the planet."
Boycott Campaign
Calls to boycott the event escalated after the U.K.-based protest group Everyone Hates Elon launched a campaign targeting Bezos. The group installed posters across New York City calling out the billionaire for avoiding taxes and supporting the president. One poster declared "AMAZON POWERS ICE," while another said the "Bezos Met Gala" is "brought to you by worker exploitation."
The group also left faux "pee bottles" with Bezos's face around the Met and stocked the museum gift shop with commemorative plates labeling the gala as "the world's most expensive midlife crisis." A founder said, "Right now feels like a very important time to spread a message about taxing the rich and ending the oligarchy around Donald Trump."
On Sunday, the group projected boycott calls onto Bezos's Manhattan penthouse, where Wintour, Venus and Serena Williams, and Kris and Kendall Jenner partied. Video messages from Amazon employees, including 72-year-old Mary Hill from a warehouse in Raleigh, N.C., also flashed on the building's facade.
Political Reactions
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, skipped the gala to focus on making the city affordable. Former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, a Republican, was spotted near the Met, criticizing the guests: "Those people are totally indulgent, selfish. What are we doing for the homeless here?"
Odell noted that Bezos has a long history with the gala, having served as honorary chair in 2012 when tickets were $25,000. This year, tickets hit $100,000, with tables starting at $350,000. Tech giants like Mark Zuckerberg and Bryan Johnson have increasingly found their footing in fashion, with tables reserved for OpenAI, Meta, Snap, Shopify, and Amazon.
Feneide pointed to celebrities' "largely performative" acts of protest while prioritizing "profits over people." She said, "Your actions speak louder than words; your choice to be here was a conscious choice instead of saying, 'No, I'm not going to participate in your system of violence.'"
