Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Met Gala Sponsorship Sparks Protests Before Event

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit—commonly known as the Met Gala—returns to New York City tonight, May 4, 2024. The exclusive, invitation-only event, organized by Anna Wintour, has long been a symbol of high fashion and elite status, with tickets priced at $100,000 per person.

This year’s gala, however, is drawing attention not for its fashion but for its lead sponsors: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. The couple’s involvement has sparked protests from activists, who argue the event’s association with Amazon and its ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are cause for outrage.

Activists Target the Met Gala with Creative Protests

A British activist group, Everyone Hates Elon, has launched a series of high-profile stunts to voice opposition to the gala’s sponsorship. The group, which describes itself as “pissing off billionaires, one small action at a time,” has hacked advertisements across New York City to highlight its concerns:

• Bus stop ad: A modified poster reads, “The Bezos Met Gala invites you to party like it’s 1939,” featuring an image of Bezos holding a champagne flute, evoking a Gatsby-esque aesthetic. The suggested dress code is labeled “willful ignorance.”
• Subway ad: A poster in the Met’s signature red colorway declares, “Jeff Bezos Proudly Presents the Met x enabling ICE,” referencing Amazon’s AWS cloud services used by ICE.
• Pop-up installation: A faux safety sign outside the Met reads, “Met Gala VIP Toilet,” installed “in honor of Bezos.” The sign includes a basket of empty plastic bottles, alluding to a class-action lawsuit alleging Amazon drivers were forced to urinate in bottles due to inadequate restroom access. The plaque states, “Go ahead, it’s good enough for his staff.”

The group’s protests have even infiltrated the museum itself. Inside the Met Museum Gift Shop, parody merchandise—including decorative plates emblazoned with phrases like “the world’s most expensive midlife crisis” and “from the man whose servers power ICE”—has been placed on display.

Broader Criticism of Bezos and Amazon

This isn’t the first time Everyone Hates Elon has targeted Bezos. In June 2023, the group draped Venice’s Piazza San Marco with a banner opposing Bezos’s controversial wedding. The group, which has amassed a significant online following, has expanded its focus beyond Elon Musk to critique billionaires more broadly.

Fast Company reached out to the Met and representatives for Bezos and Sánchez through the Bezos Earth Fund for comment, but no immediate response was provided.

Celebrities Reconsidering Their Attendance

While the Met Gala has long been a must-attend event for A-list celebrities, some are reportedly skipping the event this year in light of the controversy. The backlash underscores growing scrutiny over the gala’s ties to corporate sponsors and the ethical implications of their affiliations.