John Galliano Bows Out of Met Gala Amid Backlash

John Galliano Kevin Tachman/MG19/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

John Galliano has bowed out of the Met Gala where he was set to be honored, after a backlash over past remarks by the veteran designer, including an antisemitic rant.

“After much reflection and discussion with all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” Galliano said Monday in an Instagram post. The exhibit that has been set to kick off May 3 with the Met Gala was to be overseen by Anna Wintour, Vogue’s global editorial director who also serves as a Met trustee. But a backlash over plans to honor Galliano, who is credited with growing luxury-fashion brand Dior into a global giant, left Met Gala organizers in damage control.

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“I do not want the debate surrounding me to place the Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute. I also recognize and respect that the exhibition honoring my work would be painful for some,” Galliano added in his statement.

Galliano was fired by Christian Dior in 2011 after video footage surfaced showing the designer, who was inebriated, making antisemitic remarks in a Paris café. The chief Dior designer was arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman and making antisemitic and racist outbursts that included comments like “I love Hitler” and “your mothers, your forefather” would all be “gassed.”

After the incident, Galliano retreated from public life for two years and was found guilty by a Paris court of a hate crime for public insults based on religion, race and ethnicity for two incidents in Feb. 2011 and another in 2010 when a woman claimed he made similar racist outbursts in a bar. He received a fine and was forced to pay damages and court fees. Galliano met with Jewish leaders and rabbis following the scandal and received blessings from groups like the Anti-Defamation League.

In July, the Metropolitan Museum of Art first announced that Galliano’s work would be spotlighted in the Met’s Costume Institute. This exhibition serves as the centerpiece for the annual Met Gala, an event attended by the most elite of the A-list, with one of the most coveted invites.

Galliano’s withdrawal from the planned Met Gala spotlight was preceded on Sunday by a New York Times story that pointed to critics, including donors, politicians and Jewish leaders having taken aim at the Metropolitan Museum for championing a fashion industry giant after he had been convicted for a hate crime in 2011.

The tribute to Galliano would have made him the third living designer to receive a solo exhibition at the Met, following Yves Saint Laurent in 1983 and Rei Kawakubo in 2017.

The statement from John Galliano follows in full:

I am profoundly grateful to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and particularly to Max Hollein, Andrew Bolton and Anna Wintour, for the extraordinary honor of proposing an exhibition devoted to my work. To have my creative journey considered by an institution that I have admired throughout my life moved me more deeply that I can express. I will remain forever grateful for the confidence, care and scholarship that Max Andrew, Anna and the entire Met team brought to this project.

After much reflection and discussion with all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time. I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry. I understand that meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture. It is a continuing responsibility, demonstrated through listening, learning and one’s conduct over time.

I do not want the debate surrounding me to place the Met in a difficult position or to distract from the remarkable work of the Costume Institute. I also recognize and respect that the exhibition honoring my work would be painful for some. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to all those who have guided, supported and accompanied me throughout those fifteen years of sobriety and recovery from alcoholism and addiction. Your wisdom, patience and humanity have helped me more than I can ever adequately express. I remain profoundly indebted to you for giving me, as you promised, a life better than I could ever have dreamt of.

My gratitude to the Met, Max, Andrew and Anna remains profound and enduring. Their generosity, humanity and belief in the importance of fashion as art, culture and history – as well as their understanding of human fragility and the possibility of growth – will remain with me always.

John Galliano