This year’s Met Gala has been postponed

The last time the event was canceled was in 2002, due to the 9/11 attacks

The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced Monday that the annual Met gala, scheduled to take place on May 4, has been postponed indefinitely, reported Vogue.

The gala is often referred as fashion’s biggest night out and the subject of its own documentary, The First Monday in May, is yet another victim of the coronavirus. Cultural institutions around the world, from La Scala in Milan to Carnegie Hall in New York, have taken drastic measures to try to slow down the progress of this global pandemic.

Last Thursday the Met itself announced it was closing 'until further notice' after two employees showed symptoms of the virus.


In an internal email sent to the Met staffers this afternoon, it was announced that the museum “will remain closed through Saturday, April 4.”

The event's co-chair Anna Wintour wrote Monday in Vogue "Due to the unavoidable and responsible decision by the Metropolitan Museum to close its doors, About Time, and the opening night gala, will be postponed to a later date," .

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the theme of the 2020 Met Gala was 'About Time: Fashion and Duration' and co-hosts included Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Louis Vuitton's creative director Nicolas Ghesquière. The last time the Met Gala was not held was in 2002, due to the 9/11 attacks.

More than 150,000 cases of the coronavirus have been diagnosed worldwide, with approximately 6,500 deaths as of Monday. The US had more than 3,500 cases. On Sunday, the CDC recommended all gatherings with more than 50 people be canceled or delayed for the next eight weeks.

“In deference to this guidance, all programmes and events through May 15 will be canceled or postponed," a museum spokesperson said in a statement to the outlet.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised over the weekend that there should not be any gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks, the museum has decided, according to a Met spokesperson, that “in deference to this guidance, all programs and events through May 15 will be canceled or postponed,” including the gala.

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