Social media expressed collective outrage over Monday's 2021 Met Gala after A-list celebrities were pictured en masse without masks while other, lesser-known entertainers and employees were forced to cover up their faces for the super-elite event.
2020's Met Gala was canceled due to the ongoing pandemic.
What are the details?
Celebrities and politicians — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — took to the crowded NYC event's red carpet without masks on Monday night.
Conservative media maven Megyn Kelly tweeted about the event — and Ocasio-Cortez's appearance — and wrote, "A pathetic self-aggrandizing hypocrite. Meanwhile our kids are muzzled & six feet apart all day long while trying to learn but she & these other 'Rules for Thee but Not for Me' pols can parade around maskless & in top of each other at the Met Gala bc, SCIENCE."
A pathetic self-aggrandizing hypocrite. Meanwhile our kids are muzzled & six feet apart all day long while trying… https://t.co/t6fbEjbPnj
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) 1631623522.0
Professor and Dr. Howard Forman added, "Notion that you don't need to be masked at the #MetGala because everyone is vaccinated flies in the face of every public health proclamation of past 2 months. This 'let them eat cake' cartoon would be funny if not compounded by the 'tax the rich' subtitle."
Notion that you don’t need to be masked at the #MetGala because everyone is vaccinated flies in the face of every p… https://t.co/AdsujuUxog
— (((Howard Forman))) (@thehowie) 1631581525.0
The Daily Wire's Megan Basham added, "How can you tell the elite from the peasants? The peasants have to wear masks." Her remark was in reference to Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who was pictured indoors without a mask while standing in front of a long row of gala staffers — all of whom were masked.
How can you tell the elite from the peasants?The peasants have to wear masks. https://t.co/ocHOqjaehN
— Megan Basham (@megbasham) 1631585003.0
The outlet reported that celebrities were required to wear masks indoors, but not on the outdoor red carpet. The Met Gala's policy also reportedly stated that all attendees be fully vaccinated and provide proof of a negative PCR test the day before the event. Attendees were also reportedly required to wear masks while indoors except when eating or drinking.
New York City itself also requires proof of vaccination to access all public indoor spaces, including museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art — home of the Met Gala.
What else is being said about this?
In a lengthy essay for the Spectator, journalist Karol Markowicz wrote, "COVID rules are for serfs, not celebrities."
She began, "Amid the ridiculous outfits at the Met Gala last night, between the faux-socialist in her absurd 'Tax the Rich' dress and whatever that was that Kim Kardashian was attempting, stood a row of servants, masked. The celebrities, of course, were not. If there's one thing we have collectively learned during the 18 months of this pandemic is that the rules don't apply to the rich and famous."
"Vice President Kamala Harris's 'model' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff posed for pictures at the Met Gala with a mask on, then took it off," she continued. "Her sequin mask, of course, offered little protection from COVID anyway but it continues to be galling that the rest of us have to engage in COVID safety theater while the rich and famous don't even need to go through the motions."
Noting that those in attendance at Monday night's event largely are "denizens of the American left," excuses were made for their behavior, which was swept under the rug.
National Review's Charles W. Cooke added that per New York City local mandates, all people ages 12 and older are required to show proof that they have received "at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine" if they work in — or want to enter — public places such as movie theaters, music and concert venues, museums, aquariums, zoos, sports arenas, and more.
"This new requirement — called the Key to NYC — also means staff at these locations must be vaccinated," Cooke wrote. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a museum. Why, then, did the staff have to wear masks while the celebrities did not? It can't be because, unlike the celebrities, the staff were unvaccinated. And it can't be because, even though everyone was vaccinated, there's still a risk of transmission and infection, because that risk would apply equally to the celebrities as it would to the staff."
He added, "Is the science different for famous people, perhaps?"
Others noted that the mayor's executive order did, by its terms, exempt celebrities who are performing:
Not that I doubted @karol but geez https://t.co/hHbqZS8l3V https://t.co/u6djfFRVfN
— Stu Burguiere (@StuDoesAmerica) 1631634509.0