While most eyes were trained on the weird and wonderful – or just plain weird – get-ups at this year’s Met Gala, beyond the red carpet it was a very different story.

“We all know what’s happening uptown tonight … There’s one guy, one very big, very bald billionaire, who wants to make the Met Gala all about him,” actor and event emcee Lisa Ann Walter told an alternative New York event dubbed the Ball Without Billionaires.

“How did an event that’s supposed to celebrate creativity, artistry and fabulousness in all genders end up revolving around this Temu Lex Luthor?”

The billionaire she was referring to is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Back in February, he and wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos were announced as lead sponsors of the 2026 Met Gala, reportedly forking out at least $US10 million ($A14 million) in return for being named honorary co-chairs.

The announcement sparked immediate backlash, not just for highlighting how the glitzy event epitomises wealth disparity in the US, but also over Amazon’s alleged labour violations and Bezos’s links to US President Donald Trump.

Some social media users and the guerrilla “anti-billionaire” group Everyone Hates Elon (ie Elon Musk) urged a boycott of the Gala, with the latter putting up posters in New York City with messages such as: “The Bezos Met Gala: Brought to you by worker exploitation”.

While the boycott call didn’t seem to gain much traction, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani broke with tradition by skipping the event, stating that his focus was on affordability “and making the most expensive city in the United States affordable”.

There were also unconfirmed reports that The Devil Wears Prada 2 star Meryl Streep had declined a co-chair role for the 2026 Gala, and that her decision was connected to the Bezos’ involvement.

The Ball Without Billionaires, meanwhile, was organised by a coalition of labour groups in response to the Bezos sponsorship and held in New York’s Meatpacking District on the same day as the Met Gala. Current and former workers from Bezos-linked businesses including Amazon, Starbucks and Uber modelled clothing by immigrant designers.

“The ball’s message was straightforward,” reported Fast Company. “While the 2026 Met Gala’s theme is ‘Fashion Is Art’, the workers’ counter-theme was ‘Labor Is Art’.

“The ambience at the event was celebratory. Workers showed up in fabulous outfits and complimented each other on their looks.”

Walter – who wore a white pantsuit emblazoned with the words “Art Belongs to Everyone” in red – pulled no punches in her speech, claiming Bezos profited from “pushing workers to their very brink”.

Meanwhile, Everyone Hates Elon escalated its campaign on the eve of the Gala by placing what it described as hundreds of “piss bottles” around the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is the beneficiary of the star-studded fundraiser. The stunt references allegations that Amazon warehouse workers are forced to urinate in bottles rather than take bathroom breaks.

“The Met Museum is taking the PISS by having Jeff honoured as their Gala host,” the group said in a social media post publicising the stunt.

Protesters opposed to the Bezos sponsorship also held what they described as a “Resistance Red Carpet” outside the Met Gala, with activists carrying signs with slogans such as “Celebrate fashion, not fascists”, “Money can’t buy class, clown” and “Tax the rich”.

One protester nearly crashed the official red carpet midway through the stream of Gala guests, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which shared a video of the person being tackled by police and security officers. It was later reported the activist was Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls.

Bezos himself skipped the red carpet – although he was later seen inside the event – while Sánchez Bezos posed for photos alone and with other guests in a custom Schiaparelli gown.

Lauren Sánchez Bezos walks the red carpet with Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour. Photo: Sipa

Despite the brouhaha, stars from across music, film, TV and fashion flocked to the event in an array of dazzling, and often bewildering, interpretations of the “Fashion is art” theme.

Among the most striking were Beyonce, in a custom Olivier Rousteing sculptural skeleton dress with a cream and dust blue feathered train fitted with a diamond crown, and tennis star Naomi Osaka, in a dramatic Robert Wun white sculptural fitted dress featuring exaggerated shoulders, red feathers and matching headpiece. Even Osaka’s hands were painted red.

Supermodel and Project Runway host Heidi Klum was unrecognisable as a “living statue”, while singer Katy Perry wore a Stella McCartney gown and a face-covering Miodrag Guberinic headpiece that looked a lot like a fencing helmet.

Actor Sarah Paulson also turned heads in a grey tulle ballgown with an American dollar note as a blindfold.

Some reports suggested Paulson may have been throwing shade at Bezos, with the “Blinded by Money” mask and gown part of French fashion house Matières Fécales’s The One Per Cent collection, described as “a reflection of the greed and corruption that comes with extreme power”.

 

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This isn’t the first year the Met Gala has attracted criticism, with previous events drawing protests by pro-Palestinian activists and climate protesters. Nonetheless, it is still an important fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum, bringing in $US31 million ($A43 million) in 2025.

Museum director Max Hollein told CNN he saw the Gala as part of “the history of American philanthropy”.

“Right now, maybe there’s an added layer of scrutiny, an added layer of attention to that,” he said. “But we will always be grateful for that support from various different sources.”