John Galliano withdraws from Met Museum exhibition following backlash

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has cancelled a planned exhibition honouring British fashion designer John Galliano, following backlash over his history of antisemitic statements. The exhibition, set to run from May 2027 to January 2028, was announced on July 31 and would have coincided with the annual Met Gala.

Galliano was convicted of an antisemitic hate crime in 2011 for making horrendous comments about Jews and Asians. He was also fired from his post as creative director of Christian Dior in 2011 after a series of racist and antisemitic comments surfaced.

Galliano has since apologized for the hurt he caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, stating that after much reflection and discussion, he decided it was best for the exhibition not to take place at this time. The decision was welcomed by Jewish leaders, with some donors and politicians having questioned the museum's initial decision to honour Galliano.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Age, The Art Newspaper, The Times of Israel, PBS NewsHour, Hyperallergic — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.