Jeff Bezos is sponsoring tonight's Met Gala. Is the event tone-deaf in 2026?

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5/4/26 | Issue #52

IS THE MET GALA TONE-DEAF?

Tonight is the Met Gala. A ticket costs $35,000. A table runs $350,000. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are the main sponsors. Beyoncé is a co-chair. Guerrilla posters reading "Boycott the Bezos Met Gala" went up around New York City last week. Everyone is watching anyway.

The event is technically a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute...and it does raise millions. But it has become something else entirely: the most expensive, most photographed, most discussed fashion event on the planet, held on the steps of a museum while a third of American households struggle to cover basic bills.

This year's theme is "Fashion Is Art," and 2,600 people in custom couture will walk past a velvet rope tonight while the rest of the world watches from their phones.

Wildly expensive. Slightly absurd. Genuinely fun. You decide if that's okay.

Pick Your Side

POSITION A: Read the Room

The bottom half of the economy is already hurting, the job market outside healthcare is flat, and oil prices are one escalation away from tipping the balance. When Moody's chief economist says "nothing else can go wrong — like, nothing," that's a warning. The fundamentals are fragile and everyone knows it.

POSITION B: Let People Enjoy It

The Met Gala raises millions for a public institution and delivers one night a year where fashion goes completely off the rails, and anyone with a phone gets a front row seat. Wealthy people spending money at a party doesn't make your life worse. It just makes social media louder.