'Genocide masked in couture': Backlash against Kamala Harris at Met Gala 2025
Former Vice President Kamala Harris received backlash after attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art's gala in New York City, amidst record-low support for the Democratic Party following its continuous support of Israel's war on Gaza during the Biden administration.
The official X account for the Democrats posted a photo of Harris before she arrived at the Met Gala on Tuesday, captioned, 'Kamala Harris stuns at the Met Gala.' This sparked a swarm of criticism towards the Democratic Party, which has a record-low approval rating, according to CNN.
'The Democratic Party should delete this ASAP & fire whoever posted it. Just 27% of Americans approve of it: a historic low. Meanwhile, Trump is installing authoritarianism,' Monica Marks wrote on X. 'We don't have a second to waste on elitist nonsense. We need to show voters we've listened & reformed.'
Others also criticised Harris for attending the event while Israel's war on Gaza and the ensuing humanitarian crisis worsen, with many blaming the former vice president for not pushing for a ceasefire when she was in office.
'The amount of effort she put into being on theme is the same amount of effort she put into a ceasefire (none),' one social media user wrote on X.
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Just in case you missed it: She's dressed like Cruella de Ville to let you know she very much could have chosen to stop the genocide but didn't. https://t.co/edL2juJWUX pic.twitter.com/aLwJDFn1Ko — Abu Bakr Hussain (@KintsugiMuslim) May 6, 2025
One person on X compared the photo of Harris posing at the Met Gala, which is exclusively attended by celebrities and billionaires, to a photo of former president Lyndon B Johnson with impoverished Americans in Kentucky, writing: "We've come a long way".
In addition to figures like Harris receiving heat for attending the Met Gala, the event in its entirety has been protested against both online and in person for taking place a second time during Israel's war on Gaza.
The death toll in Gaza has risen by thousands since this time last year, and the population of over two million is experiencing widespread hunger as Israel continues its blockade of all food and humanitarian aid. Over 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023.
🇵🇸🇵🇸Met Gala protest: Despite the barricades and heavy police presence, a protester made it directly in front of the Met Gala and chanted Free Palestine to make it clear that the Met is complicit in genocide. While Celebrities continue to flaunt their extreme wealth and… pic.twitter.com/uof089S0mh — Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) May 5, 2025
The New York City-based organisation, Within Our Lifetime, organised a protest outside the Metropolitan Museum in the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Tuesday, just as it did last year, to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
"While Celebrities continue to flaunt their extreme wealth and materialism, not a single food or aid truck has entered Gaza for two months, leading to mass starvation of the Palestinian people," the organisation posted on X.
Online, social media users juxtaposed images of celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Gigi Hadid with those suffering in Gaza.
"Today, the visual dissonance hit a breaking point," one social media user posted on X.
"Images of starving children in Gaza. Israel moving to fully annex and occupy what's left of Gaza no longer even pretending. The decision to level everything. Flatten it all. And then, the scroll flips to the Met Gala. Fashion critiques. A spectacle draped in Black radical aesthetics, stripped of meaning, repurposed to whitewash, distract, and pacify. Perfect. A culture of genocide masked in couture."
A Palestinian social media user posted: " We are losing family and friends left and right. But yes please show us your favorite most wealthy celebrity wearing expensive clothes made by other wealthy people."
One social media user wondered whether the gala's theme this year, which centred on a revolutionary fashion movement in Black American history, was an attempt for the event to circumvent the mass criticism it faced in 2024. Last year's event sparked a boycott campaign against celebrities who attended but hadn't yet spoken out in support of Palestine.
Although the backlash isn't as widespread as last year, many have echoed the same sentiments that sparked the outrage, with one person calling it "selective humanity".
The Met Gala isn't blamed for terrorism. But when red carpets roll while Gaza bleeds, it becomes a symbol of selective humanity. You don't need a weapon to be complicit, sometimes, silence draped in designer labels (that funded this terrorism, btw) is enough. — seo doya ૮˃̵֊ ˂̵ ა 🍉 (@snugdeal3r) May 6, 2025
Since the war on Gaza started in October 2023 after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 100,000 injured, with some still lost and feared dead under the besieged enclave's rubble.
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