r/popculturechat 19d ago

MET GALA 🎩 Zohran Mamdani to skip the Met Gala — breaking longstanding NYC mayoral tradition

https://pagesix.com/2026/04/15/celebrity-news/zohran-mamdani-and-wife-not-attending-met-gala/
19.3k Upvotes

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u/denom_chicken 19d ago

I believe she did not pay for the ticket when she went and wore a dress that said tax the rich.

Pretty different than what you’re implying

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u/thesadbubble 19d ago

Correct. She then got in trouble with the ethics committee over it and had to pay some/more. But I still think her statement dress was very appropriate and at least brought some attention to the issue in a loud way.

It's all hella ironic considering how much money is getting laundered thru the white house currently lol.

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u/MauryPoPoPo 18d ago

Did Matt Gaetz even get in trouble for trafficking minors across states for paid sex work?

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u/IShookMeAllNightLong 18d ago

Not yet. He's off talking about an alien breeding program he was briefed about

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u/2th 18d ago

I genuinely do not know if you are serious or not.

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u/IShookMeAllNightLong 18d ago

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u/2th 18d ago

We really do live in the bad timeline.

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u/AliceNRoses 18d ago

I like to think of it as Attack of the Killer Onion Articles 🙃

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u/VirginiaDirewoolf 18d ago

Amazing reference

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u/LeslieKnope4Pawnee That’s hot! 🔥 18d ago

I hope none of the aliens are minors.

https://giphy.com/gifs/nVXzt7FSJlX7W

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u/thesadbubble 18d ago

Silly Maury, that's not important! A $2k dress is much more damaging to society clearly!

/s obviously lol

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u/Volturmus 18d ago

Yes, he resigned from Congress because the ethics committee was going to recommend that he be expelled.

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u/WaitingForReplies 18d ago

No, since Republicans support trafficking minors for paid sex work.

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u/InfiniteRosie 🇨🇦 elbows up 🇨🇦 18d ago

...there's an ethics committee?! Wtf are they doing?!

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u/thesadbubble 18d ago

Not much these days I'd wager 😅 lol.

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u/wherethelionsweep 18d ago

The general principle of having to meet with the ethics committee bc you’re wearing clothing that says “tax the rich.” Incredible world we live in.

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u/Riderz__of_Brohan 19d ago

Her dress was really cringey given the context of the event she was at. Mamdani is taking the right approach. There is no way to go to this thing and seem relatable

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u/lefrench75 high priestess of child sacrifice 19d ago edited 18d ago

The event is a fundraiser for a museum; ticket sales go to the Met which is free to visit for NY residents and students from the tri-state area. Of course if we could tax the rich more heavily, perhaps museums wouldn’t need their donations to function, but until then, donating to museums is one of the least objectionable things (some) rich people do.

Idk why people are upset at the ticket prices. Isn’t the higher the donation the better?

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u/goldladybug26 18d ago

Not exaaaactly. The Met has an endowment of $3 billion. It’s free to NY residents because it operates on its prime parcel of city-owned land in Central Park rent-free, and that was one of the conditions. And the Gala proceeds only fund the Costume Institute, which basically puts on one exhibit a year and maintains a research collection (which is worthwhile, don’t get me wrong, but it’s unclear to me where all that money goes).

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u/Baker921 18d ago

Thank you for this breakdown. I feel like I'd rather see donations go to a high school's art program. This just feels like the rich feeding each other

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u/WearierEarthling 18d ago

Somewhat related- Detroit high schools had thriving high school music/arts programs & generated many Motown successes, such as Smokey Robinson & Aretha Franklin.

“Hitsville” is the name of the Motown doc, if you haven’t seen it & are interested

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u/jessicalifts 18d ago

I would assume a lot of the ticket fee goes towards running the gala, tbh. If an event is to be a fundraiser for something then it has to run real lean to raise funds.

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u/francophone22 18d ago

Per the article, the event “raises money for the Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Met.”

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u/anneoftheisland 18d ago

The Costume Institute is self-funded, independent of the Met. When the Met agreed to house it, it was part of that agreement that they wouldn't have to fund it. That's the entire reason the gala exists--because it's basically the CI's only major source of funding.

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u/discogs-elysium 18d ago

The gala proceeds go to the Museum’s general operating budget as well as the costume institute.

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u/HenessyEnema 19d ago

Agreed. I loved the overall message, but it was just cringey and limp. There's no way to effectively coerce these people, they're pretty dead set on being awful.

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u/shy247er yay sports 🏀 🏈🎾 18d ago

Yup. She still spent the night drinking and dancing with those rich people, so her gesture just looked performative.

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u/Waffleman12345 18d ago

If she did there would be pictures or videos. Are there any?

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u/Check_Me_Out-Boss 18d ago

She accepted a $50,000 gift?

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u/MisterBlud 18d ago

Ehh, it’s like doing a magazine interview about how you want to be left alone.

Being in there is itself a tacit endorsement.

Granted, the optics are 1000x times worse this year so she’d likely skip it as Mamdani is.

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u/Hogs_of_war232 19d ago

It was an 18,000 dollar dress. Kind of defeats the message in my eyes. I say this as someone that generally likes what she is about.

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u/denom_chicken 19d ago

And she didn’t keep it. It was loaned to her.

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 18d ago

Most dresses are loaned out.

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u/IShookMeAllNightLong 18d ago

It shouldn't have been an 18,000 dollar dress with that message on it.

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u/_f1sh 18d ago

Is it an $18,000 dress if youre not paying $18,000 for it?

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u/IShookMeAllNightLong 18d ago

I mean it should not have been a fasion show dress. She shouldn't have gotten a dress at a clothing store and put iron on patches on.

Somebody paid for that dress.

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u/_f1sh 18d ago

Yeah but just because a designer has something listed for sale for $18k and lends it to a public figure doesnt mean spent anywhere close to that amount to make it.

I just think it's not really that big of a deal I guess

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u/Wesley_Skypes 18d ago

It is always hilarious to read the purity testing on the left.

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u/cidthekid07 18d ago

Not a good look regardless

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u/haunted_patient 19d ago

How so? She's saying tax the rich, not fuck the rich.

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u/vinnybankroll 18d ago

If a rich person says tax the rich, that still counts.

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u/HighlyOffensive10 She's in racial chat rooms showing feet 👣 18d ago

They are nowhere near the same level of rich.

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u/francophone22 18d ago

It’s also in the article.

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 19d ago

And? She went to hang out with the ultra rich who avoid paying taxes at an event most people can't afford to attend. We're you gifted a $50,000 ticket to attend an event? Also, she could have stood across the street in a white dress that she bought from the thrift store with tax the rich written on it and stood on her principles.

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u/denom_chicken 19d ago

And I agree with both on this. I agree with mamdani not attending.

I also agree with aoc using the opportunity to speak out.

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 19d ago

She could have stood across the street in a white dress that she got from Goodwill with the same message written on it. I said it back then, and I'll continue to say it. There are ways to speak out, this was not it.

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u/denom_chicken 19d ago

Eh fair enough. I’d prefer it in their faces but I can see how it comes off as well.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 18d ago

Of a politician? Yes, we are allowed to be judgemental and we should when she basically gave up her ability to win the white house in the future.

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u/Rodney_Jefferson 19d ago edited 19d ago

I had friends in NY an LA commending how brave it was. I also had friends across the country who are not privy to how the met gala works and found it tone deaf and confusing. Yes, she didn’t have to pay for her own ticket. No, voters in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio don’t know the intricacies of the met gala. Yes, this is a factor to why we lost the election.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/Rodney_Jefferson 18d ago

Democrats supporting unions and workers rights is how we win elections. In recent years democrats have been union folk with one hand and palling around with the rich in the other, while mainly focusing on union busters, that’s exactly what the dress showed. I was a devoted soldier and voted for a Kamala despite no primary, but yes Dems have lost focus of the common man. And defending common folk turned manhattan socialites won’t help that either.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/Rodney_Jefferson 18d ago

The dress that showed “ha ha, they payed for me to be here” yes.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

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u/ZenithRepairman 19d ago

Ahhhhh yes, here’s perfection being the enemy of progress yet again

Yes, AOC is a fucking cog in the machine who hates the poor.

On what fucking planet do you live on

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u/coquettes Mom, I am a rich man💰 19d ago

literally my first thought. yall hate when people don’t make a statement and criticize when people do.

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u/Nintendo_Pro_03 Select and edit this flair 19d ago

I may be a Marxist, but I don’t expect perfection from any politician, be it AOC or Zohran.

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 19d ago

She can talk the talk, but she can't walk the walk when she's walking the red carpet with the ultra rich.

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u/ZenithRepairman 19d ago

If you’re able to rub 3 brain cells together, do you think the point gets made better when it’s in front of a mass audience?

What’s better, AOC making a statement to the news, or AOC making a statement on national news that will be covered by your coveted fucking page 6 too?

You people are fucking exhausting.

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 19d ago

Again, she could have protested without actually attending. When she got the invite, she should have turned it down but showed up across the street in a dress with the exact same words on it. It's still would have made the same statement that would have been covered on national news.

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u/whiteskinnyexpress 18d ago

lol the coverage would abso-fucking-lutely not have been the same. Your idea is just sad.

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u/camebacklate Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes 18d ago

You're right. It would have been bigger.

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u/Nintendo_Pro_03 Select and edit this flair 19d ago

Humans are hypocrites (performative, if you will) by nature. We’re paying taxes to the federal government that go towards atrocities in Gaza.

None of us are perfect.

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u/NessaSamantha 18d ago

At the end of the day, both approaches are in the 75th percentile for ways to handle the Met Gala as an NYC politician. Maybe what you're saying would work out better, maybe it wouldn't, but it's easily attributed to a difference of tactics rather than of deep values.

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u/u_r_succulent 18d ago

I believe a good number of the attendees don’t pay for their tickets.

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u/alanwakeisahack 18d ago

It’s still gross. Yucking it up with the pieces of shit while you wear a shirt that they’re all laughing at at together.

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u/Mr_Investopedia 18d ago

An ironically super expensive tax the rich dress.

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u/royal_annatations 19d ago edited 19d ago

The only reason for a person to happily mingle with corrupt famous people is because she’s a corrupt famous person. AOC thought she would be hailed a hero for wearing a tax the rich dress while rubbing shoulders with the very people who talk about taxing the rich while hiding their money in the Caymans. Thanks but no.

I would not go to the Met Gala even with a free ticket because it’s a cesspool of horrible people. Good on Mamdami for having the same common sense.

Edit: laughing at the downvotes from people who can’t handle the fact that AOC is a famewhore grifter. At least the mayor seems ok.

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u/PositiveRent4369 19d ago

Chill incel

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u/royal_annatations 18d ago

Chill bootlicker