Anti-Jeff Bezos, Amazon, and Met Gala protests kicked off early Tuesday in Manhattan with an unexpected twist: a fashion show. Labor is Art, a coalition of Amazon workers, unions, and supporters, organized the event on Little West 12th Street to underscore that labor has the power to tell its own stories and that it is workers' efforts that drive Amazon, not the man who owns just 8% of the company.
As the Met Gala enters what many call its billionaire era—this year's event is supported by a $10 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, according to the New York Post—critics voiced concerns that Bezos, the gala, and the broader fashion industry are overshadowing genuine cultural contributions. The city was filled with sleek black SUVs transporting guests between pre-events.
Voices from the Protest
Alexia Sol, a trans activist who walked in the show wearing a design by Cindy Cruz, explained her participation: "Billionaires are not the most important people in the world. The most important are the people, and when the people work for billionaires, they are just making them more money." She added, "The Met Gala is not celebrating humans; it is celebrating only money."
Samari Jomar Mercado, 37, a Puerto Rican model and Amazon warehouse employee, described her work at Amazon as "very manual, a heavy lift, and by the end of the day, very painful." She noted that the retail giant does provide bathrooms, countering claims by Everyone Hates Elon, a UK campaign group that reportedly placed 500 small bottles of urine, each bearing a picture of Bezos, around the Metropolitan Museum of Art before the gala. "The Met Museum is taking the PISS by having Jeff honored as their Gala host," the group said in an Instagram post. They also projected slogans onto Bezos' Madison Square apartment building on Sunday night.
Jomar, wearing a nude outfit by Cindy Castro, stressed the importance of visibility for Amazon warehouse workers, calling them "the people behind the smile" and emphasizing their commitment to fighting for their rights. As an arts major and fashion lover, she expressed a desire for a ball without billionaires: "I feel that wealth can give you power but it won't make you worthy. I feel like they want to rewrite what culture is and we won't permit them to narrate to us what culture is."
Broader Criticisms
Shantiera Dubarry, a New York City government security guard, sat backstage between a rehearsal and the main show. She criticized Bezos, his wife, and others for building "a great workspace for themselves on other people's backs." She argued, "The attention should go more on the people that helped them get all this wealth and publicity. They should put the workers' hard work in the spotlight. They seem to want to grab everything for themselves." However, Dubarry, wearing a dress by Mel Corchado, clarified that she would not protest the Met Gala itself: "This is my protest. I offer peace and love and if they see it, even if they don't speak on it, I think it offers volumes. I would never want to go curse and yell at people."
Giselle Lebedenko and her designer friend Chris Mejia waited for the show to begin. When asked who they were wearing, they replied in unison, "Ourselves!" Lebedenko appeared as a glamorous milkmaid, while Mejia dressed as a camp medieval minstrel. They see Bezos and Sánchez as symbols of a larger disconnect between fashion brands and fashion fans. "They are just creating too much stuff," Lebedenko said. Mejia agreed, adding, "They are just producing things to make money and not looking at what our generation actually values. We are very self-expressive, we want to dress up and wear color. But they are anti-personality and want to mute us down. They are trying to sell us product without any character."
Both expressed that billionaires are attempting to invade cultural spaces that are not theirs to claim. "Fashion is an art and I think it should be more of a celebration of the people doing the hard work," Mejia said. "Because of overconsumption and fast fashion, the billionaires see it as a way to profit and cash-grab, and it ends up hurting the hard work that has gone into it."
