The Met Gala is facing criticism over its lead sponsors. Here’s what Anna Wintour has to say

By Kati Chitrakorn, Antoinette Radford, CNN

(CNN) — Anna Wintour described the American philanthropist and former journalist Lauren Sánchez Bezos as a “great lover of costume and obviously of fashion” when asked about criticism surrounding the Bezos’s role as sponsors of the 2026 Met Gala.

Speaking to CNN in Doha, Qatar, at the inaugural Franca Fund Gala dedicated to the late Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani, Wintour said she believed Sánchez Bezos would be a “wonderful asset to the museum and the event.”

“We’re very grateful for her incredible generosity,” Wintour told CNN, “so we’re thrilled she’s part of the night.”

Jeff Bezos and Sánchez Bezos’ were unveiled as lead sponsors of the event last week, along with secondary sponsors French luxury brand Saint Laurent and Vogue publisher Condé Nast.

Wintour relinquished her title as Vogue US’s editor-in-chief earlier this year, but remains Vogue’s global editorial director and chief content officer for Condé Nast, which means she still oversees the annual Met Gala.

The announcement of Bezos’s sponsorship drew immediate backlash on social media, with critics arguing that their involvement highlights a shift towards billionaire control of cultural institutions. Others have argued that the money could be better spent on other causes.

“Great theme,” wrote one user under a video on The Metropolitan museum’s official Instagram announcing that next year’s would be “Costume Art,” before adding: “However, stop platforming Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez with art and fashion, two places that these two awful, unfettered capitalists will never belong in, no matter how much money they want to throw around to buy culture they have never cultivated and will never inhabit.”

Traditionally, the gala and its accompanying exhibit have been supported by luxury houses, including this year’s event, which was backed by Louis Vuitton. However, past sponsors have also included big tech firms such as TikTok, Instagram (owned by Meta), Apple, Yahoo, and even Amazon. The latter sponsored the Met Gala in 2012 and Bezos, its founder, served as an honorary chair.

For some, the decision to sponsor the event is indicative of the couple’s ambition to gain cultural and fashion legitimacy, with parallels being drawn between Sánchez Bezos and Kim Kardashian’s rise within the fashion industry. It was only a decade ago that Kardashian — a friend of Sánchez Bezos — transformed her image from reality TV star to become a significant figure within high fashion circles, thanks in part to a nod of approval from Wintour and a Vogue cover with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, with whom she had a seven-year marriage.

While Sánchez Bezos has not publicly discussed her intentions, the move marks a deeper foray into the fashion world. The couple missed the 2025 Met Gala due to their wedding celebrations but attended the event in 2024 and posed for the cover of Vogue US in June this year. They were recently spotted at Paris Fashion Week, where they attended shows for Chanel and Balenciaga, wearing archival vintage looks curated by celebrity stylist Molly Dickson (whose clients also include the singer Lana del Rey and actor Sydney Sweeney). Sánchez Bezos’s Earth Fund also this year announced a $6.25 million partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to promote sustainability in fashion.

As part of their announcement, the Met also revealed that a gallery space would be named after the late founder of Condé Nast, in recognition of a donation (the amount of which was undisclosed) from the media company.

Amy Odell, the New York-based author of Wintour’s biography “Anna,” observed that the timing coincided with recent layoffs at the publisher, which impacted multiple titles including Teen Vogue — a decision that “people were very emotional about, because they cut the young, diverse voices who were doing political coverage for a young audience,” said Odell in an Instagram video. “Condé Nast is making cuts. The gala is going on. Rich people are ‘riching.’ The optics are kind of uncomfortable. Maybe these are just going to be the optics of the gala every year until something changes with income inequality in this country.”

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