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Met Gala opens in NYC; Zohran Mamdani skips, Bezos linked to sponsorship

cultureMay 4, 202646116

The Met Gala opened in New York City with celebrities including Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams on the guest list while Mayor Zohran Mamdani did not attend. Zohran Mamdani announced he would skip the 2026 Met Gala, faces a poll showing 40 percent of Jewish voters rate him "poor," and urged King Charles to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond. Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez served as sponsors and honorary co-chairs after paying between $10 million and $20 million to secure sponsorship, illustrating Bezos's growing role inside fashion's inner circle. The combination of a high-profile Big Tech sponsorship and the mayor's absence highlighted tensions over private funding and political optics at major cultural institutions.

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