Galliano Withdraws from Met Gala Exhibit Amid Backlash — SkimNews
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- John Galliano withdrew from a planned exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the Met issuing a joint statement Monday announcing the decision amid backlash over antisemitic and racist comments he made in 2010 and 2011 that went viral and led to his conviction in an antisemitism trial in France.
- NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin sent a letter to the museum last week urging it not to honor Galliano, then praised Monday's reversal as "the correct decision," identifying herself as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art said plans for a replacement exhibit would be announced at a later date, and Galliano's withdrawal came just ahead of a planned meeting of the museum's board of trustees to discuss the exhibition's fate.
- Galliano said in the joint statement he "remain[s] fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities."
Why it matters: The Met scrapped a tribute to one of fashion's most influential designers after pressure from a city official, with Menin explicitly tying the reversal to a "rising time of antisemitism." The speed of the cancellation — ahead of a scheduled board of trustees vote — suggests institutional gatekeeping at major museums is now responsive to organized political pressure before curatorial deliberation concludes.
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