Rich, famous, out of touch: The growing resentment towards Met Gala

Once hailed as fashion’s most anticipated night, the Met Gala is increasingly becoming a symbol of everything that feels broken in today’s world. As celebrities, billionaires, and cultural elites gathered Monday under the glass canopy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, decked in custom couture and diamond-studded accessories, a growing segment of the public watched with growing resentment — not admiration.

In past years, the Met Gala’s spectacle was met with a mix of awe and critique. But in 2025, the backlash is louder, sharper, and more widespread than ever. As images of handcrafted gowns and champagne-soaked selfies flood social media, so too do pictures of Gaza's children being pulled from rubble, famine warnings in Sudan, and deported immigrants detained in El Salvador's CECOT maximum prison. The juxtaposition is impossible to ignore — and for many, unforgivable.

The 2025 theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” aimed to spotlight Black creativity and fashion history. But critics argue that even well-intentioned themes are lost in a sea of ego, wealth, and performance, with ticket prices reportedly reaching USD 75,000 per person and tables costing up to USD 350,000.

The event’s lavish displays of wealth struck a discordant note as posts on X and protests outside the venue highlighted its disconnect from pressing global issues.

Here are some online reactions:

Hard to accept the extravagance and narcissism of the Met Gala, set against the background of the slaughter in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/PscBrvEPrU

— MichaelHurleyCUPE (@HurleyOCHUCUPE) May 5, 2025

It’s Met Gala night — where Hollywood’s elite blow $75K on a ticket and obscene amounts on designer outfits — then have the nerve to preach about inflation and a collapsing economy. The hypocrisy is unreal.

— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) May 5, 2025

It's #MetGala2025 night.

It is hard to describe the disdain I feel for those in attendance -- wearing outfits that cost tens of thousands of dollars that they can afford but did not pay for, all while considering themselves great social justice warriors and heroes for the… pic.twitter.com/Qc8xxkrEMd

— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) May 6, 2025

The Met Gala used to celebrate creativity and American fashion. Now it feels like a tone‑deaf costume party for coastal elitists pushing a narrow, hyper‑politicized agenda. When working families are worried about inflation, safety, and opportunity, watching billion‑dollar brands…

— Martin Dolfi (@MartinJDolfi) May 6, 2025

Out of touch opulence when a genocide is occurring and homelessness is rampant in America? Sorry, but #FuckTheMetGala

—  Pitchforque  (@pitchforque) May 6, 2025

the MET gala is the epitome of capitalism. rich celebrities who have shown nothing but complicity with their silence towards Palestine and while they wear multi million dollar dresses people are dying of hunger on the streets in every city. may they reap what they sow.

— ashley  (@radleftashx) May 5, 2025

celebrating famous people who desperately pay their way into the met gala, an event that is infamously tied to genocide in every way possible, is deeply inhumane and lame as shit

fuck your ugly dresses and wrinked suits

— drakarya (@closebodied) May 5, 2025

Events like the Met Gala embody the worst in humanity: the callous indifference to human suffering propagandised by glitter and sartorial couture aimed at distracting the crowds while the world down is burning around them.

The Nazis loved throwing elegant galas too. https://t.co/7sVjUoFZXH

— DisparatePanda (@DisparatePanda) May 5, 2025

Oh wow, y’all drooling over Met Gala looks, zions twirling in designer sh*t, and we’re out here starving and getting bombed in GAZA like we don’t even exist. This world’s filthy af!!
Go on, clap for the end of humanity, you fame-hungry clowns!!! https://t.co/uA08nVGXhs

— zinah (@zhal80) May 6, 2025

For many, the spectacle has lost its shine. And unless the institutions behind it begin to reckon with the world outside their gilded halls, the divide between the red carpet and the real world will only grow deeper.