On 4 May 2026, before the Met Gala began, the activist group Labor is Art—a coalition of Amazon employees, labor unions, and supporters—held a fashion show on Little West 12th Street to protest Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and billionaire, who had donated $10 million to the 2026 Met Gala.
The protest aimed to declare their opposition to Jeff Bezos, who is viewed as exploiting workers to gain immense wealth, before allocating $10 million to sponsor this elite fashion event. Behind Bezos' opulence, it is the labor force that truly drives the Amazon empire.
According to The Guardian, many attendees at the fashion show shared their thoughts on this movement.
Alexia Sol, a transgender rights activist, explained her reason for protesting: billionaires are not the most important people in the world; the people are. Yet when the public works for billionaires, they become mere money-making machines enriching the rich even further.
Similarly, Shantiera Dubarry, a security officer at a New York City government agency, said the core issue with Jeff Bezos and investors is building a vast empire on the suffering of others. People should focus on those who enable such wealth and fame. However, these investors seem intent on hoarding everything for themselves.
Samari Jomar Mercado, a Puerto Rican model who primarily works as an Amazon warehouse employee, described her daily hardships: her job is entirely physical labor, involving heavy lifting, leaving her body painfully sore by day's end.
For her, the most important part of walking the street runway was reclaiming visibility for workers—the people behind the smiles on Amazon's package boxes. She emphasized that despite attempts to create new norms, they will not allow others to dictate what their culture should be.
The opposition to Bezos also stems from the view that billionaires and investors are trying to appropriate artistic space belonging to ordinary people, which the community cannot accept. Designer Chris Mejia, who participated, commented:
"Fashion is art, and it should celebrate hardworking people. But consumerism and fast fashion cycles lead billionaires to see only profit and monetary gain in these works, rather than true value. Ultimately, this harms the effort and dedication of those who create."
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