'Pee Bottles' and Protests Pop Up in N.Y.C. as Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos Chair 2026 Met Gala
'Pee Bottles' and Protests Pop Up in N.Y.C. as Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos Chair 2026 Met Gala
Adam CarlsonMon, May 4, 2026 at 4:51 PM UTC
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From left: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos with anti-Met Gala signage this yearCredit: Kevin Mazur/Getty; ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty -
Last week, to criticize Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ role as honorary chair of the Met Gala alongside wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos, activists reportedly left approximately 300 bottles of fake urine at the museum
Social media users have also shared images of a “pee bottle” dispenser set up outside the Met — a sarcastic swipe at Amazon
Vogue's Anna Wintour and museum officials have defended the Bezoses role in the fundraiser as well as their “incredible generosity”
Even given the tradition of protesting the Met Gala, there have been some unusual sights ahead of this year’s couture- and celebrity-filled event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Namely, bottles of pee.
Last week, to criticize billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ role as honorary chair alongside wife Lauren Sánchez Bezos, activists with the group Everyone Hates Elon left approximately 300 bottles of fake urine in the famed museum, The New York Times reports.
It’s part of a larger anti-Bezos campaign that Everyone Hates Elon launched around New York City, where their exhortations to “boycott the Bezos Met Gala” have shown up on signage and even on larger-than-life projections on the sides of buildings, according to the Times.
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Social media users have also shared images of a “pee bottle” dispenser set up outside the Met — a sarcastic swipe, like the protest last week, at accounts from some Amazon employees that they’ve had to use water bottles to go to the bathroom on the job.
Fake urine at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New YorkCredit: Everyone Hates Elon / SWNS
Earlier on Monday, May 4, ahead of the gala, a coalition of unions and other groups put on a Ball Without Billionaires featuring employees from Bezos’ businesses like Amazon and The Washington Post as well as other companies, according to CNN.
The event focused on those employees wearing what was touted as more ethical fashion than what is typically on display during the gala’s own red carpet.
Amazon employee April Watson, who was set to walk in the Ball Without Billionaires, told CNN: “I want to do what I can to help there be systemic change that would make the warehouse safer for employees like myself.”
The Met Gala is a major fundraiser for the museum’s Costume Institute, which houses numerous historic pieces of fashion. But its blending of opulence and stardom (tickets this year go for $100,000) has also made it a reliable target for criticism from both within and without the event.
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For example, progressive New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore a white dress emblazoned with “tax the rich” to the fundraiser in 2021.
That same year, social justice protesters were taken into custody outside.
TikTok’s selection as a sponsor in 2024 drew its own outcry, given concerns at the time around its connections to the Chinese government.
Anna Wintour (center) and Lauren Sánchez Bezos (in gray) on Monday, May 4, ahead of the Met GalaCredit: Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock
The Bezoses this year are serving as the main sponsors of the Met Gala as well as honorary chairs. The Amazon executive chairman, 62, was an honorary chair before, in 2012, when the company was a sponsor.
The couple, who married last year in Italy, have become increasingly prominent in fashion circles, a particular passion of Sánchez Bezos, 56, who also serves as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, another passion. (A spokeswoman for the couple declined to comment on the protests.)
Vogue chief Anna Wintour, who has long overseen the Met Gala and transformed it into a major event, previously told CNN that Sánchez Bezos was a “great lover of costume and obviously of fashion.”
“We’re very grateful for her incredible generosity, so we’re thrilled she’s part of the night,” Wintour said then.
And the museum’s CEO, Max Hollein, also defended the Bezos’ donations and role this year.
“This is not a show on Amazon. This is not a show on Lauren Sánchez’s dresses,” Hollein told CNN. “One needs to be really clear that what our donors are supporting is the program of the Met, and the ideas of our curators, and the integrity of the institution. And they don’t want to have it any other way. That’s exactly the donors that we want, and those are the donors that museums like ours need to have.”
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