Anti-Jeff Bezos and Amazon protests kicked off early on Tuesday in Manhattan with an unexpected twist: a fashion show. Labor is Art, a coalition of Amazon workers, unions, and supporters, staged the event on Little West 12th Street to emphasize that labor has the power to tell its own stories and that workers' efforts drive Amazon, not the man who owns 8% of the company.
The Met Gala has entered its billionaire era, with tonight's event supported by a $10 million donation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, according to the New York Post. Many protesters expressed concern that Bezos, the Met Gala, and the fashion industry at large are overshadowing the contributions of everyday workers. The city was filled with black SUVs ferrying gala guests between pre-events.
Voices from the Protest
Alexia Sol, a trans activist who walked in the show wearing Cindy Cruz, said she protested because billionaires are not the most important people in the world. She stated that the most important are the people, and when they work for billionaires, they simply generate more wealth for them. Sol added that the Met Gala celebrates only money, not humanity.
Samari Jomar Mercado, a 37-year-old Puerto Rican model and Amazon warehouse employee, described her work as very manual, involving heavy lifting and resulting in significant pain by the end of the day. She confirmed that Amazon provides bathrooms, countering claims by Everyone Hates Elon, a UK campaign group that reportedly dropped 500 small bottles of urine, each bearing a picture of Bezos, around the Metropolitan Museum of Art before the gala. The group posted on Instagram that the Met Museum is taking the piss by honoring Bezos as their gala host. On Sunday night, the group projected slogans onto Bezos's Madison Square apartment building.
Jomar, wearing a nude outfit by Cindy Castro, stressed the importance of Amazon warehouse workers being visible as the people behind the smile and showing the world they will stand up for their rights. As an arts major and fashion lover, she expressed a desire for a ball without billionaires, believing that wealth can give power but not worthiness. She accused billionaires of trying to rewrite culture and said workers will not permit them to narrate what culture is.
More Perspectives
Shantiera Dubarry, a New York City government security guard, sat backstage between a rehearsal and the main show. She criticized Bezos and his wife for building a great workspace for themselves on other people's backs. She argued that attention should be directed toward the people who helped them accumulate wealth and publicity, putting workers' hard work in the spotlight instead. However, Dubarry, wearing a dress by Mel Corchado, said she would not protest against the Met Gala itself, preferring peaceful and loving protest, as she believes it speaks volumes without cursing or yelling.
Giselle Lebedenko and her designer friend Chris Mejia waited for the show to begin. When asked who they were wearing, they replied in unison, Ourselves! Lebedenko came as a glammed-up milkmaid, and Mejia as a camp medieval minstrel. They view Jeff and Lauren Bezos as symbolic of a larger disconnection between fashion brands and fashion fans. Lebedenko criticized the industry for creating too much stuff, and Mejia agreed, stating that companies produce things solely to make money without considering what their generation actually values. He emphasized that people want to dress up and wear color, but brands are anti-personality and try to mute them down, selling products without character.
Both said billionaires are attempting to invade cultural spaces that they are unwilling to cede. Mejia believes fashion is an art that should celebrate the people doing the hard work. He noted that overconsumption and fast fashion lead billionaires to see it as a way to profit and cash-grab, ultimately hurting the hard work invested in it.
