Dear Celebrities: You Thought You Could Get Away With It.
Not This Time.
I know nothing about galas, and celebrity culture does not interest me.
So, why do I write about the Met Gala?
Because celebrities have power.
And a good number of celebrities used their power to good-wash Jeff Bezos by attending this year’s Met Gala. That attendance was an act of accepting Bezos and his wife among the respectable do-gooders.
The gala aims to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. A good cause, involving a bundle of the rich and famous dressed up like scarecrows—in line with the stated costume theme.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s co-founder, was this year’s leading sponsor of the gala.
His $10 million donation led to heavy protests and some celebrities deciding not to attend.
Because the 4th richest man in the world built his fortune on treating his workers “worse than robots,” as a British Amazon worker said.
And, in case anyone may have missed it:
“Worse than robots” means not daring to take a toilet break, living in constant fear of being fired, and having someone monitor your every move — including emails after midnight.
Those who like to call themselves decent find such treatment of others abhorrent.
So, here is my message to all those celebrities who attended this year’s Met Gala:
By attending that event, you good-washed Bezos. You contributed to making his exploitation of other human beings acceptable.
Perhaps you will protest and claim that this gala is a totally different matter. It’s not. Everything you do in front of the cameras is about you exercising your power.
If you are rich and famous, you have power whether you want to or not. It’s up to you how you use it.
Taylor Swift persuaded hordes of young fans to register to vote—a good thing. Gwyneth Paltrow makes her followers buy candles that smell like her (?) vagina—less good. Trump’s celebrity status from “The Apprentice “show propelled him into the White House—disastrous.
In my view, you get off the hook far too easily when it comes to how you use your power. This is my attempt to hold you to account.
By attending the Met Gala, you enabled Bezos’ and his wife’s effort to make us forget what their despicable fortune is built on.
Let me give you some examples of that:
Bezos’ fortune is built on exhausted workers falling asleep on the bus to and from an Amazon depot. His fortune is built on women having to go on a business trip the day after a miscarriage. It is built on people with cancer who are in danger of losing their jobs due to low performance.
And if you really care about the Custom Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, why not donate money to it directly?
Your attendance at the Met Gala looks even less dazzling, considering that so many of you purport to be humanists and support good causes.
Among those who attended was Nicole Kidman, an ambassador for UNICEF, and Beyoncé, who advocates for women’s rights and social justice (the irony).
So, perhaps you will send a thought to the thousands of scared and exhausted people who made Bezos rich the next time you receive an award, hold an eye-watering speech and tell us how much you detest oppression and injustice.
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To my readers: Thanks for taking part in my genuine anger!
LINKS:
See Every Look from the Met Gala 2026 Red Carpet
Amazon treats me worse than the warehouse robots – that’s why I’m walking out
Timed to go to the toilet. Told off for leaning. Monitored for each package completed. As a worker at Amazon, I often feel that we aren’t being treated as people.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos defends company after brutal exposé
Celebrities do have an impact on elections, Harvard study finds