George Santos called me to talk about the Met Gala red carpet
Unpacking the rest of the night's drama … was a lot more complicated.
You’re here because you’re watching politics get body-slammed by digital culture and content creators. I’m here because I’m the only one who can guide you through it.
I’ve lived my life with my phone in permanent “Do Not Disturb” mode since 2021.
Part of me loves that it drives people in my life nuts. But it’s mostly about the feeling of control it gives me over my fragile attention span. The ADHD-addled among us understand the level of strategy necessary to fend off insurgent notifications.
So, in a move that’s typically reserved for doctors calling about vitamin deficiencies or friends whose FaceTimes I’ve ignored one too many times, I flipped off my DND just before 9pm last night. Just in case. Sometimes God has another plan for you.
Just 21 minutes of unbridled notification accumulation later, there he was. “Hi Grace, It’s George Santos.” A member of his team told me he’d reach out after I emailed to connect … but “reach out” in politics usually means a can kicked down the road, a request denied. Instead, there he was — the former representative from New York who had his prison sentence commuted by Trump — calling me. Eager to chat about everything from face-lifts to face-plants.
I intended to focus on politics (we get there, below), but I found myself eager to see where we might align on some cultural touchpoints. When the Kardashians came up, I said (with an obvious lack of self-awareness) it feels like we’ve been “sentenced” to seeing them on every red carpet. Santos didn’t miss a beat:
“I feel like this is my prison sentence. Sentenced to endure the Kardashians and the Jenners for the rest of my life. In fucking perpetuity.”
For the uninitiated, which I assume is most of you, George Santos has recently thrown his MAGA hat in the ring of the millennial frenzy vying to fill Joan Rivers’ enormous Chanel shoes online. I understand that desire — I only started working in politics after the horrifying realization that I couldn’t just waltz into Vogue and get a job, freshly graduated.
He posts his roasts on social media and offers added (read: scathing) details in columns for the Daily Mail, which he said he loves due to the fact that they allow him to “go savage.” We aligned on some favs — Sabrina Carpenter, Emma Chamberlain — and he took a rhetorical flamethrower to others:
Doja Cat: “What the fuck was that?” // Katy Perry: “Fucking awful” // Jordan Roth: “Like a dementor gone neutral” // Heidi Klum: “My reaction to that was horror”
We also broached the Bezos Behemoth. His answer surprised me and suggested that he shares in my struggle to define what the relationship between fashion and politics is supposed to be. He disapproves of people bringing politics into the Gala — “they’re insufferable” — but he backpedals to celebrate the work Oscar de la Renta did for Trump’s 2025 inauguration, acknowledging “the risk of being criticized for being a hypocrite” for doing so.
So, where does that put the billionaire host in the eyes of George Santos?
“He paid $10 million to sponsor this, you know. Because he can buy whatever he wants, he bought the Met Gala. I will say this, though: I was a big critic of him putting all that money and kind of monopolizing the event, but I thought it was in really good taste for him to not walk the carpet ... I would’ve shat on him if he did.”
Where protests against the Met Gala moved the needle most, who I tapped to help deepen our understanding, and what I’ve decided about the relationship between politics and fashion … all below!
MAKING A COUNTEROFFER
Politics has sledge-hammered this truth into me: It’s not enough to say you are against something. To change minds, you have to bring your alternative to life. Good ol’ fashioned protest brings awareness … but then what? How do you organize, mobilize, activate long-term?
Three things good politics knows how to find:
Humor — The activist group “Everyone Hates Elon” not only hid shady Bezos-centric novelty gifts in the Met gift shop in the days leading up to the Gala, they planted vials of urine1 with Jeff’s face on them around the galleries too. Their message to boycott went bonkers viral, turning one of the darkest realities of Amazon’s harm into a campaign people felt motivated to share.
➡️ Almost 10M views on Instagram in the past week, just on their posts
➡️ Handful of other accounts sharing pictures and video of the gag, accounting for millions more views
Pop culture — Zohran Mamdani rejected his invite to the ball. Not one to miss a moment he can message, he collaborated with i-D Magazine on a feature celebrating six of New York’s garment workers.
➡️ Bypassed his usual channels, meets the fashion world where they are
➡️ Re-emphasizes long-held policy practice: bring the convo back to the working class
Community — The “Ball Without Billionaires” is the definition of political counterprogramming — and I’m surprised no lawmakers jumped on the opportunity to cosign. Amazon delivery drivers, warehouse workers, and other activists walked the runway, orchestrated by the SEIU, stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, and “Abbott Elementary” queen Lisa Ann Walter.
➡️ Tapped so many NYC-based creators on the left who shared to their networks
➡️ Gabriella KJ in her own words:
“This idea — that proximity to power is inherently meaningful — is one of fashion’s most persistent delusions [...] Fashion, at its best, is not a trickle-down system. It does not originate in the highest C-suites, and penthouses and filter into the street. It rises from the people.”
Grace Note:
These multiple entry points made it easier to funnel people looking for an outlet to express their disapproval or rage to the right place, with a larger group. It makes it so Amazon Union activist Chris Smalls doesn’t have to be the only one taking a risk, even if his move of rushing the carpet with a sign carried more risk and ended in detention.
CALLING IN BACKUP
With my head so far up politics’ ass, sometimes I feel like I need a cultural compass to get oriented in big moments like this. He’s first in line in my brain every time, the legend who blesses us with The Trend Report™, Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick.
First up: Did the protests work?
“Jeff Bezos skipping the red carpet really is a tell because, despite all the money in the world and playacting as a king, he can’t take the heat he turned on. Is it really noble (or “tasteful”) to hide from a problem you created? It’s offensive either way, suggesting that he believes people to be stupid, lacking object permanence [...] Clearly, all of the protesting worked. It worked so well that even Zuckerberg entered through the backdoor too!”
We’re on the same page about the Alt Ball being “a brilliant example of what happens when people not only organize together to point out an issue but also highlight the solution.” But as a collective, we’re a long ways away from untangling what he identifies as exploitation “marketed as convenience.”
“The power dynamic still remains, as few — if any — were actually embarrassed to be there or skipping in dissent. Sarah Paulson may have worn her commentary, but such a statement means very little when you’re embodying a flimsy critique that was sold as protest [...] I don’t think it can be stressed enough how complicit and deeply tied fashion is to power and fascism and exploitation.”
Holly Beddingfield, editor of Capsule, pointed the same finger:
“Sarah Paulson’s dollar bill mask was a statement, but did it really land? It seemed to me like most celebrities were on their best behavior, non-controversially ‘celebrating art’ mode ... [The Met Gala] doesn’t necessarily reflect mass culture back to us in and of itself, but it does provide discussion points that allow these cultural discussions to happen.”
SO, WHERE DO I LAND?
We know all the money in the world can’t buy you taste. But a bitter flavor bubbled its way to the surface as soon as we clocked Lauren Sánchez Bezos arriving as a party of one. Once we conquered the sight of her un-emphatic, non-statement of a debut, we were able to move on to other senses.
Sound. All the money in the world can’t buy you fanfare comparable to a real star. The photographers called to her at about the same volume you’d use to flag down a bartender at a half-empty dive bar. Touch. We could see on video how badly Nicole Kidman did not want to hug her. Smell. It all reeked of desperation.
The Kimbino, Kim Russell, is the foremost authority on any friction rising in the fashion world. Lack of a backbone seems to be something fashion and politics have in common. It’s a feature, not a bug.
Invertebrates differentiate themselves from the pack — quickly — thanks to their natural propensity for relenting to the powers that be. Into which group would you rather install steel spinal reinforcements?
And when we look away from those in power, what possesses the rank and file to be so adamant about separating fashion and politics along the lines of church and state? I think of WHAT'S ANU’s “regressive nostalgia” framework:
“Regressive Nostalgia: As socioeconomic turmoil leads to feelings of disillusionment and disenfranchisement, there is a yearning to return to ‘the good old times.’”
The behavior in and around the 2026 Met Gala — denying the link between politics and fashion — tracks with this regressive nostalgia. We’re seeing mass dissociation from the current state of things (nihilism, doomerism, what have you), in favor of attaching ourselves to a fantasy of the past.
Oftentimes, it’s a past many participants are too young to even remember. It’s why Y2K fashion just won’t go the hell away: Influencers and celebrities have convinced us that fashion and politics were separate then. Our nostalgia-bonding is an anchor in rough waters. But I fear even our low-rise parachute pants won’t keep us afloat.
LOOSE ENDS
📰 Something you should read today: The Emptiness of the 2026 Met Gala — Louis Pisano, Everything is Political
🕵️ Someone you should know today: Two of the protest activations featured 72-year-old Amazon warehouse worker Mary Hill, aka Ma Mary. Her runway walk was something fierce. She has a GoFundMe to help with medical bills after a third bout of cancer. Good day to make someone’s day!
🥹 Something to make you smile today: Never in my life has one show featured two of my all-time favorite songs. One I’ve quite literally never heard outside of my headphones. Thank you, “DTF St. Louis” for feeding me with your needle drops. This Will Be Our Year (The Zombies) was one thing, I Wish It Would Rain (The Temptations) ruined me!!!
allegedly fake urine
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"George Santos called me to talk about the Met Gala red carpet"
Imagine saying this sentence to a Victorian child