Met Gala organizers are reportedly considering moving the 2027 event as backlash grows over plans to honor designer John Galliano with a major exhibition
The 2026 Met Gala is honoring the controversial designer
Met Gala organizers are reportedly considering a rare change to the event’s 2027 date as backlash grows over the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s decision to spotlight designer John Galliano.
The annual gala is scheduled for May 3, the traditional first Monday in May, when the Costume Institute’s John Galliano: Horizons exhibition opens. But May 3 also falls on Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, intensifying criticism of the New York City museum’s plans.
The New York Times reported that Met trustees and board members have been discussing possible responses, including pushing the gala back one week. The news follows Donald Trump’s favorite aide, Natalie Harp, nearly suffering a Marilyn Monroe moment.
“In recent days, opposition to the museum’s plan to honor Galliano has grown among Jewish leaders in New York and beyond,” The Times reported. “Donors have contacted Met executives and threatened to rescind gifts to the museum if the exhibition moves forward as planned.”
Galliano, 65, is widely regarded as one of the most influential designers of his generation. He led Dior from 1997 until 2011 and later served as creative director of Maison Margiela from 2014 to 2024.
The planned Met show would make him only the third living designer to receive a solo Costume Institute exhibition, after Yves Saint Laurent and Rei Kawakubo.
His career was thrown into crisis in 2011 after a video surfaced showing him making antisemitic remarks and praising Adolf Hitler at a Paris cafe. Galliano was later convicted in France of public insults based on religion, race, and ethnicity.
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin urged Anna Wintour, Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, and Met director Max Hollein last week to reconsider the exhibition.
“Mr. Galliano’s long public record of antisemitism, racism and anti-Asian bigotry is deeply troubling,” Menin wrote.
“His conduct was repeated and significant. He was criminally convicted in France for racist and antisemitic public insults. He was also captured on video praising Adolf Hitler and telling others that their ancestors would have been ‘gassed.’ That is not behavior that should be easily overlooked or normalized. Recently, there were reports of a similar antisemitic incident that allegedly occurred in 2019.”
Menin continued, “At a time when our city is confronting a serious rise in antisemitism, anti-Asian hate, and other forms of hatred, I find the decision to so prominently honor someone who has engaged in this behavior to be wholly inappropriate. New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world.”
Menin also said she was “deeply concerned about the process through which this decision was made. Mr. Galliano’s rhetoric and conduct, including the alleged 2019 incident, should have been more thoroughly investigated.”
She urged organizers to “reconsider” and suggested a contextual exhibition or educational program as alternatives.
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