The long list of stars attending the Met Gala in May will not include New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji, if unnamed sources cited by the New York Post’s “Page Six” prove to be correct.
As reported by the paper, “New York City’s mayor is traditionally invited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the lavish event every year, but we’re told that Mamdani, 34, won’t be joining Condé Nast’s Anna Wintour and her coterie of celeb guests on Monday, May 4.”
A source who was not identified said, “He’s not coming. And it would be foolish if he did … can you imagine? It goes against everything he believes in.”
Mamdani and Duwaji do believe in fashion, as evidenced their sharp and pointed sartorial choices—see his custom Carhartt jacket and her vintage Balenciaga coat. But as the Post notes, this year’s Met Gala is being funded in part by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez-Bezos, two figures who run counter to Mamdani’s declaration “I don’t think that we should have billionaires.”
Mayor Eric Adams attended the Met Gala in 2022 (no surprise there, given his penchant to party) and Bill de Blasio showed up in 2021. About Duwaji, Anna Wintour—longtime Vogue editor and Met Gala chair—said, “I’m full of admiration for New York City’s new first lady because she looks so cool and wears a lot of vintage—young and modern and also entirely herself.”
Wintour’s co-chairs for this year’s gala are Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams. Members of the Gala Host Committee, co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz, include Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Gwendoline Christie, Alex Consani, and Misty Copeland. The event, on the evening of May 4, will take place in advance of the Met Costume Institute’s “Costume Art” exhibition opening May 10 and running into January.
As for Mamdani and Duwaji’s plans, the Post (which it should be noted has been scathing in its coverage of the couple, generally speaking) said it reached out for comment.
