2023 Met Gala charity event raises $385k to help celebrities afford normal clothes

On Monday, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art again hosted the annual Met Gala charity event. Always held on the first Monday in May, the Met Gala raises money to help cash-strapped celebrities afford normal clothes.

The costs of jet-setting to foreign luxury vacations, wining and dining at the world’s finest restaurants, purchasing front-row seats to Lakers games and paying legal fees on multiple divorce settlements really add up. This sadly leaves many celebrities unable to afford even basic clothing necessities, such as hoodies, t-shirts and blue jeans. And as the Met Gala often demonstrates, even underwear can be financially out of reach for Hollywood’s biggest stars.

To drive home the message of their depleted clothing budgets, celebrities again arrived wearing rag-tag bunches of fabric and materials they found around the house, much of it torn and wrinkled. Some made their outfits by hand.

“Most people probably don’t understand the severity of the problem until they see the visuals of this event,” said Vanessa McBride, executive director of the Met Gala Charity Foundation. “After seeing photographs from this year’s Met Gala, it is nearly impossible not to feel sympathy for these poor souls.”

Here is but a small sample of how the celebrity attendees pulled at the heartstrings – and checkbooks – of generous non-stars:

To save money, Rihanna and Cara Delevingne roomed together the previous night at a nearby Red Roof Inn, which explains why they both arrived wearing bedsheets.

Speaking of beds, Yung Miami (left) cut a hole in the bottom of a dog bed she borrowed from her neighbor. Sean “Diddy” Combs, meanwhile, leased a comforter from Hot Topic to cap off his homage to Batman. If you look carefully, you can still see the tag. He obediently returned the comforter to the store the following morning, per the terms of the lease.

Anne Hathaway relied heavily on safety pins to hold together this piece of hand-me-down upholstery. Considering her financial limitations, we think Anne did a hell of a job!

Gisele Bundchen grabbed a clump of morning New York fog and carried it with her the remainder of the day in an outfit she titled “Liberation from Tom.”

Pants, being among the items hardest hit by inflation, were a recurring theme throughout the evening. Pedro Pascal could only afford pants that stopped six inches above the knee. Anna Wintour could only afford a single pant leg from a big-and-tall store. And Kendall Jenner couldn’t afford any pants at all.

Amanda Seyfried, an ardent birdwatcher, impressively wove together a nest of flexible twigs and pieces of straw to make this creative, cost-effective and earth-friendly ensemble.

Lil Nas X rolled around in a bathtub full of puppy chow before the event. It is a wonder how celebrities come up with such things, but one must applaud their creativity.

His wasn’t the only cereal-themed outfit. Just hours before the gala, a procrastinating Keke Palmer used a healthy serving of Elmer’s glue to hold in place her dress made up entirely of Lucky Charms marshmallows.

Jared Leto charmed his way into a furry convention at Madison Square Garden and pawned off half a turkey sandwich in exchange for this feline costume. With poultry prices being what they are, perhaps he should have kept the sandwich. But we admire his sacrifice.

Roger Federer was ridiculed for flaunting his exorbitant wealth in front of the celebrity peasants. He was thus also blamed for the event not garnering as many charitable donations as event organizers had hoped.

That said, the gala still pulled in an impressive $385,000, which will be put to good use, said Executive Director McBride.

JimBob Johnson, 58, a truckdriver from Coldwater, Kansas, watched the event on TV for only a few minutes before writing a check for $750. “For me, it was seeing Amanda Seyfried in that dress made of twigs and straw that made me want to donate,” he said. “Poor thing. Two minutes in a Kansas windstorm would leave her completely bare. Not to mention, if birds see something like that walking down the sidewalk, things could get ugly real quick.”

Johnson considered sending a box of his favorite bib overalls and a Kansas Jayhawks sweatshirt that he has outgrown. But then he remembered that when it comes to charity, giving cold, hard cash usually does the most good.

Not everyone shares Johnson’s generosity and soft heart. Randy McNutt, 41, of Dover, Delaware, told Battle Line that there is “no way he would ever donate to those people.”

“Take Kendall Jenner, for instance. I happened to quite like what she was wearing,” he said, grinning creepily. (Battle Line talked to McNutt over the phone but learned of this detail when he said, “I’m grinning creepily right now.”)

McNutt must not have been alone, as a moment later the reporter heard someone in the background yell, “Randy, get off the phone! You’re sick, Randy! Pervert!” Then another voice chimed in: “Do you think celebrity poverty is some kind of joke?”

At that, the phone line went dead. Should we not hear from him in the next six hours, Battle Line will execute a welfare check for Randy McNutt of Dover, Delaware.

---

If you liked this article, then please consider clicking the “like” button below. It helps Battle Line get noticed by other Substack readers. Even if you didn’t like the article, go ahead and click it anyway. Your secret is safe with us!