The Met’s Problem Was Always Bigger Than John Galliano
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has canceled a planned exhibition featuring fashion designer John Galliano following public backlash regarding his history of anti-Semitic remarks. The article questions the appropriateness of museums showcasing living designers whose personal conduct conflicts with institutional values.
Why it matters
It highlights the ongoing tension between artistic merit and the ethical accountability of public cultural institutions in the age of cancel culture.
Maybe museums shouldn’t be showcasing living fashion designers.
Vincent Tullo / The New York Times / Redux September 2, 2026, 4:48 PM ET Share Save The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s announcement this week that it is canceling next year’s exhibition on the fashion of John Galliano perhaps shouldn’t have come as a surprise. From the start, Galliano was a controversial pick for the museum’s Costume Institute, which launches its new show each year with the splashy Met Gala. In 2011, he lost his job as creative director of Dior after a video surfaced of him making a drunken anti-Semitic rant; later that year, a French court found him guilty of the crime of making anti-Semitic and anti-Asian insults. The New York Times also recently described claims that Galliano had made anti-Semitic comments during an outburst in 2019. (Through a spokesperson, Galliano denied the 2019 episode.)
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