The Met Gala is one of the most exclusive events of the year, with many stars scrambling to get an invite.
But there are some celebrities and people of note who will be snubbing this year’s event entirely, whether it be because Met Gala chair Anna Wintour has “banned” them, they are boycotting it, or they are simply not bothered.
Read on to see the faces we likely won’t be seeing on the steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on the first Monday of May, 2026.
Watch the video above
We’ll always see Anna Wintour at the Met Gala – but a lot of famous faces likely won’t be there this year. (Getty)Donald Trump
Though there is no official list of people who have been banned from the Met Gala, Anna Wintour has specifically named one person as someone whom she would never invite.
In 2017 interview with James Corden in his show’s segment Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts, the first person she thought of when she was asked which celebrity she would never, ever invite was the two-time President of the United States of America.
READ MORE: The first and latest looks from the ‘Queens of the Met Gala’
READ MORE: The Met Gala’s most memorable looks of all time
READ MORE: There’s one golden rule of the Met Gala, and these stars broke it
Donald Trump is the one person Met Gala chair Wintour has officially banned from the event. (AP)
She told TV host James Corden Trump was the one person who would “never ever” be invited. (YouTube/The Late Late Show with James Corden)
She was spared providing a reason why due to the lightning-round nature of the interview.
Zendaya
She’s considered one of the style queens of the Met Gala, but according to reports, we won’t be seeing Zendaya on the red carpet this year.
Elle magazine reports the actress won’t be making an appearance, having come off back-to-back press trails for her film The Drama and season 3 of Euphoria.
However, many are speculating there’s another reason for the absence, with suggestions Zendaya is boycotting the event due to the involvement of Jeff Bezos.
If reports are to be believed, we won’t be seeing Zendaya at the Met Gala this year. (Getty)
The Amazon billionaire is the sponsor of the 2026 Met Gala, a development that has been met with months of backlash.
Billy Porter
Everyone knows it’s not a red carpet event without Billy Porter absolutely blowing it out of the water with his unique outfits, but the Met Gala is simply going to have to go without his magic.
The actor, 56, has only attended one Met Gala in his career, when he was invited by Ryan Murphy in 2019 for the gala themed Camp: Notes on Fashion.
Billy Porter was dripping in gold when he made his Met Gala debut in 2019. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP via CNN Newsource)
The actor’s entrance was as spectacular as his outfit. (Getty)
He more than outdid himself, entering the event dripping in gold in “a bejewelled catsuit outfitted with 10-foot wings, a 24-karat gold headpiece, as well as custom gold-leaf Giuseppe Zanotti shoes and fine jewels by Andreoli, John Hardy, and Oscar Heyman,” per Vogue.
Not only did his look create a statement, he was carried into the event on the shoulders of six shirtless men, emulating an Egyptian god.
Porter has always been outspoken about his views, and he did the same in 2021 when he criticised Harry Styles’ Vogue cover, making him the magazine’s first-ever male cover star, wearing a grey dress.
In 2023, Porter said Wintour, the then-editor-in-chief of Vogue, had interviewed him months before the cover dropped to ask his insight on how to lead the publication into the future.
Porter had shared his criticism of Vogue’s Harry Styles cover. (Vogue)
“That bitch said to me at the end, ‘How can we do better?’ And I was so taken off guard that I didn’t say what I should have said,” he told The Telegraph.
He had advised the editor to “use your power as Vogue to uplift the voices of the leaders of this de-gendering of fashion movement”.
“Six months later, Harry Styles is the first man on the cover,” Porter said.
“This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars and not be gunned down. All he has to do is be white and straight.”
The Pose star was hurt by his being snubbed at last year’s event. (Getty)
Porter’s style emulates black dandyism, which was the 2025 Met Gala theme. (Getty)
Now, in a recent interview with podcast Bevalations, the Pose star shared he felt especially snubbed when he wasn’t invited to last year’s event, which was themed Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.
Porter is known for his unique take on tailored wear, having attended many events, like the Oscars in 2019 or even the Olivier Awards last year, in clothing that would have perfectly fit the brief.
Despite the snub, the actor insisted he’s “good”.
“I don’t go to places where I’m not welcome,” he said.
“I’ve earned the invitation and it’s okay that I don’t have it because there’s a level that I’ve reached that doesn’t require validation from the outside.
“I’m going to sit and live in that because it helps keep me sane, too.”
Zohran Mamdani
Newly-elected New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is breaking years of mayoral tradition by not attending the Met Gala.
Zohran Mamdani and his wife Rama Duwaji will not be attending New York’s most elite event. (AP)
Last week, in an interview with Hell Gate, the known socialist confirmed he and his wife, Rama Duwaji, will be giving New York’s most lavish event a miss in order to focus on “affordability and making the most expensive city in the United States affordable”.
The subtle snub comes as controversy mars the event, since billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez are the lead sponsors of the event.
Posters calling to “Boycott the Bezos Met Gala” have emerged across New York in the lead-up to the event.
Considering the mayor has been committed to his mission to focus on working-class issues, and Amazon has been accused of worker exploitation, it makes sense Mamdani will be giving the Met Gala a miss.
Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez are the lead sponsors of this year’s event. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)Demi Lovato
Singer Demi Lovato branded the elite event “cliquey”, sharing that she “had a terrible experience” at the 2016 event in a 2018 interview.
She told Billboard of one unnamed celebrity who was a ”complete bitch and was miserable to be around.
“I remember being so uncomfortable that I wanted to drink,” said Lovato, who has long been open with her history of substance abuse and her commitment to sobriety.
Demi Lovato said she had a terrible time at the event in 2016. (Getty)
She shared that she went straight from the Gala to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
“I changed my clothes, but I still had my diamonds on – millions of dollars of diamonds on in an AA meeting,” she recalled.
“And I related more to the homeless people in that meeting who struggled with the same struggles that I deal with than the people at the Met Gala.”
Lovato returned to the gala in 2024, but skipped in 2025, so time will tell whether she will return to this year’s event.
The actress returned to the Met Gala in 2024, but skipped 2025. (Getty)Jennifer Aniston
Over her three-decade career in Hollywood, Jennifer Aniston has been invited to the Met Gala many times but has consistently declined every single time.
Last year, the Friends star told Glamour magazine exactly why she chooses not to go.
“Yes, I have [been invited], but I don’t go. It overwhelms me,” Aniston said.
Jennifer Aniston has been invited to the Met Gala many times. (Getty)
“It’s the getting ready, the putting on the dress. I’m a jeans and flip-flops and tank top kind of girl.
“I love dressing up too, but for me it’s a mental game of … ‘Let’s get dressed up, put on a fancy dress, makeup, get your hair all ‘purdy’ and go sit in a big room with your peers.’
“Everyone’s there to celebrate each other and have some fun, but I get nervous.”
Aniston added that despite her career on screen, in real life, she has a fear of public speaking and a complicated relationship with red carpets.
For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here.
The actress chooses not to go to the elite event. (GC Images)
“I even get a little anxious about public speaking, especially over the years of having your words twisted and taken out of context,” she said.
“So I find myself almost hall-monitoring myself in a weird way.”
“Some people find it [red carpets] like a sport where they build you up and then they love to tear you down.
“What’s the reason why people do it? Who knows? But I just try as best I can [to tune it out] because it doesn’t do you any good.”
Lili Reinhart
Lili Reinhart has a funny feeling she will no longer be invited to the event after taking aim at another attendee.
The Riverdale actress attended in 2018, 2019, and 2021, but after 2022, she may have been taken off the guest list.
She called out Kim Kardashian after the reality star shared she rapidly lost weight in order to fit into the very dress Marilyn Monroe wore to perform for former President Kennedy on his 45th birthday in the ’60s.
Lili Reinhart last attended the Met Gala in 2021. (Getty)
After the event, Reinhart took to her Instagram stories to share, “To walk on a red carpet and do an interview where you say how starving you are … because you haven’t eaten carbs in the last month … all to fit in a f—–g dress? So wrong. So f—-d on 100s of levels.”
She encouraged her fans to “stop supporting these stupid, harmful celebrities.”
In October that year, the Hustlers star discussed her rant in an interview with W Magazine.
“Was fun, but after going again this year, I don’t think I’ll be invited back,” she commented.
Kim Kardashian was highly criticised for wearing Marilyn Monroe’s dress. (Penske Media via Getty Images)
“I said a certain something about a certain person in a certain dress.”
Tim Gunn
Academic and TV personality Tim Gunn is another person we are pretty sure is banned from the affair, with the Project Runway star saying as much on the show in 2016.
“It is very true. It is a crazy story, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a very matter-of-fact story,” he said.
Tim Gunn has been ‘forever disinvited’ from the Met Gala. (Getty)
“I was asked what is the most unforgettable thing I’ve ever seen in fashion and I said, ‘It’s easy. It was watching Anna Wintour being carried down five flights of stairs by two bodyguards – two big hulking men – from a fashion show.’
“All hell broke loose. It was insane. We’ve had an open war ever since.”
Remember to drink responsibly. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline on 1800 250 015 or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.