Pose star Indya Moore says they will more than likely not be attending another Met Gala. Moore, who is non-gender, non-binary and prefers to go by they/them, made the announcement in the form of an Instagram post, captioning a photo of them on the red carpet of the highly-anticipated fashionable affair.
“This will probably be my last Met Gala,” they captioned the lengthy Instagram post in part. “I have been unhappy with what my experience has been behind the flashing lights cameras and the people between them and I so far. The message is often: if I do not like it, I can move on. I’ve noticed that Growth and change is bad for “the brand” here, and when we get sick because of these lies we take meds to quell the symptoms, or we move on bc changing the environment & editing the tradition is too taboo.”
Moore continued, speaking of the inequality in the industry and in the world. “Being at the Met this year was cognitive dissonance,” they admit. “I entered and left feeling confused. But before that I felt clear. Grounded. People were protesting and arrested in the name of what so many of us who attended, care deeply about. They were arrested most likely because they were perceived as a threat to those of us who were there.”
Moore said they couldn’t wrap their mind around the hoopla that comes with the annual event and the money raised while simultaneously, so much injustice continues in the world. Furthermore, Moore says Black and brown people, who have historically contributed the most to this country and continues to do so, are largely ignored.
“We organize millions for a museum, on stolen land that black and brown people suffer on unless white supremacy thinks they are exceptional- but not for the people?’ they wrote. “Can’t we be substantially generous in ways that alleviate suffering and poverty? I am surprised that I was invited and I am grateful for the gesture and I want us to be more sincerely thoughtful around how we take from people we do not care about, not so we can accept that truth, but so that we can grow the heart to change it.”
Moore’s post came days after there were several Black Lives Matter protests taking place outside of the gala. As theGrio previously reported, some of the protesters got into tussles with police as they attempted to clear the demonstration and several arrests were made.
The Daily Mail released photos of protestors being carried away by NYPD. A flyer at the event revealed that the protest was organized by an “autonomous group of NYC abolitionists who believe that policing does not protect and serve communities.
The NYPD has a total financial allocation of $11 billion per year,” the flyer read in part. “This money goes towards racist policing that destroys Black and brown communities while people who are struggling do not get the resources they need. CARE, not COPS, is the answer.”
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