Met Gala faces backlash as Bezos sponsorship fuels anti-rich sentiment

The Met Gala arrives amid an unusually hostile climate, with Jeff Bezos' sponsorship drawing real anger due to a surge of anti-rich sentiment in New York and nationwide. The New York Times reports that the backlash sharpens an awkward question: what is the Costume Institute if not the party that funds it? Meanwhile, The Conversation questions whether fashion is art at all. Other institutions face turmoil: the Boston Globe editorializes that the BSO board's austerity memo has triggered the fundraising collapse it was meant to prevent. Venice scraps the Golden Lion for a People's Choice prize and readmits Russia and Israel, drawing criticism. Anish Kapoor calls for the US to be excluded from the Venice Biennale. A three-alarm fire broke out at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre, home of The Book of Mormon.