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She said Gallia-no.
A campaign to get disgraced designer John Galliano ousted from next year’s Met Gala began before the announcement of his controversial participation was ever made, Speaker of the New York City Council Julie Menin exclusively told The Post.
“In late July, The Met reached out to me and said they needed to meet,” said lifelong New Yorker Menin, the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors.
The announcement of Galliano as the theme of the 2027 bash — and the subject of a coveted Costume Institute exhibit — had not yet been made.
“When they told me they were going to honor John Galliano, my first comment was, ‘That can’t be a final decision.’ I couldn’t believe it. And when they made it clear that they were serious about a John Galliano Met Gala, I said, ‘I strongly disagree with this. I am letting you know that you are being put on notice. I am going to speak out about this. I’m going to push you to reverse course.’”
To Menin, the idea that New York’s most high-voltage annual social event would honor “a man who said he loved Hitler, that the Jews should be gassed — it’s wholly unacceptable… I told them this was a gut punch to the Jewish community.”
Menin immediately embarked on a coordinated outreach campaign connecting with New York-based Jewish advocacy groups, Costume Institute leaders like curator Andrew Bolton, and Vogue’s leadership team — saying she even “met with Anna Wintour” several weeks ago.
“It was the position of The Met that they could contextualize the remarks that John Galliano made,” Menin recounted. “But my point was that it is a decision to honor and to celebrate, and that’s really where I had a major issue.”
She recalls having a “visceral” reaction in the pit of her stomach when discussing the designer’s documented racism and antisemitism. “I felt sick to my stomach.”
Menin wasn’t the only one angered by the announcement.
Prominent cultural philanthropists like Julie Macklowe condemned the decision as antisemitic and ignorant — noting to the New York Times that as recently as 2019, the designer had been accused of harassing Jewish women for simply speaking Hebrew in public. (Galliano denied the accusations.)
In an email sent first to the Metropolitan Museum of Art leadership and then forwarded to socialites and friends over the weekend, trustee Alice Tisch called Galliano’s imminent show “a failure of governance” while city council member Brad Lander condemned it as a “bad mistake” in a public statement.
New York Fashion Week founder Fern Mallis told The Post: “I agree with this decision, I think they’ve all come to their senses. It’s an important time, and it’s rewarding to see that when enough people speak their mind they can effect change.”
Behind the scenes, New York donors like Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher threatened to pull support from the Metropolitan Museum as a whole, according to reports from the Times.
Meanwhile in Hollywood, talent agents were caught in the unusual bind of hoping their up-and-coming ingenues wouldn’t be invited to the “party of the year.”
“I couldn’t in good conscience tell my clients who are Jewish to just take the ticket,” said a talent executive at a top firm, who begged anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work.
“Normally, we do everything possible to get our girls on that red carpet. Anything. This year, we were freaked out.”
In Paris, executives worried that “because Galliano was convicted of a hate crime, which is a serious offense there, it might be hard to get involved,” said the PR director of a major fashion brand whose head designer often attends the Met Gala as a guest.
If even Vogue advertisers declined to buy a table for the annual fashion frenzy, the Costume Institute would lose millions of dollars.
Menin reminded The Post that the city of New York is also a prominent donor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and its cash shouldn’t be put towards vaunting a documented antisemite.
“Hate crimes here are unfortunately at a historic high,” she said. Data from early August reported on by The Post showed that incidents had soared since the last mayoral election — with more than half committed against Jews.
“The council gives over $3 million for educational programs to support the Met. Not to mention other support that the City of New York gives to the Metropolitan Museum.” That support, Menin said, could not fund a legacy of anti-Jewish and anti-Asian bigotry.
“This is a victory for the Jewish community. This is a victory for the Asian community. This is a victory for tolerance, inclusion and standing up for the right thing,” she continued.
Menin said her phone “has been ringing off the hook” since news of the cancellation broke early this morning.
“New Yorkers,” she said, “are thrilled.”
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