The star-studded Met Gala is Monday, but several top MAGA figures reportedly won't be walking the red carpet this year on fashion's biggest night.
With Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour banning President Donald Trump from the New York event that benefits the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, a number of people associated with him will be notably absent.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump had attended the event for years, even reportedly getting engaged at the fundraiser in 2004, before Wintour expressed her desire to never invite him again.
According to the Independent, Wintour, who hand-picks the guest list every year, issued her proscription of Trump in 2016, when she was a guest on "The Late Late Show With James Corden."
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has drawn the left's ire for his support of the president and his cost-cutting work at the Department of Government Efficiency, won't be at the gala, a source told The New York Times. Musk previously attended three times, most recently in 2022.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, who went last year, will also not be making an appearance Monday night, according to the Times. Bezos attended Trump's inauguration and has struck a more conciliatory tone with the president since he took office.
Another Big Tech CEO who attended Trump's swearing-in, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, will reportedly be skipping the gathering of famous faces. But Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, is expected to take in the glitz and glamour of the night, as he has in previous years. Meta is Instagram's parent company.
LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who also went to Trump's inauguration, won't be in attendance at the Met Gala, according to the Times. He has not gone in nearly 30 years.
The Times' source also said that former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Trump defeated in the 2024 election, might show up.
According to Wintour, the benefit is meant to be about representation and fashion and was "never about politics, not in in conception, not now." Instead, it's about "self-determination, beauty, creativity, and holding up a lens to history," she told the outlet.
This year's theme of "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" has a "heightened meaning in 2025," Wintour said, because it is "recognizing and taking seriously the contributions of Black designers and the Black community in fashion."
The theme was reportedly inspired by the book "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity" by Monica L. Miller.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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