John Galliano withdraws from Met Gala show in his honor in wake of backlash
Galliano, Dior's former creative director, was convicted in France in 2011 after an antisemitic and racist tirade in which he hurled slurs at a Jewish woman and an Asian man, declared 'I love Hitler' and said their ancestors should have been gassed
John Galliano, the former creative director of Dior, has withdrawn from a planned exhibition of his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition was set to be a rare honor, making him only the third living designer to receive a solo show at the Met, and was to open in conjunction with the 2027 Met Gala.
Galliano was convicted in France in 2011 of making antisemitic and racist remarks, including hurling slurs at a Jewish woman and an Asian man, declaring "I love Hitler", and saying their ancestors should have been gassed. According to the Jerusalem Post, he stated that he remained accountable for the pain caused by his past words, particularly to Jews and Asians, and recognized that an exhibition honoring his work could be painful for some.
The decision to cancel the exhibition came after criticism from donors, political leaders, and public figures, including Galliano's biographer Dana Thomas, who wrote that the Met had made a "serious error" in choosing to honor him. The Met agreed with Galliano's decision to withdraw from the exhibition.
Brief written by urgent.news from Haaretz, South China Morning Post, Sky News, Jerusalem Post, Le Monde English — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
