The Metropolitan Museum of Art has scrapped its planned John Galliano retrospective, which was due to run from May 2027 to January 2028 and serve as the theme of next year's Met Gala, after renewed criticism over the designer's past racist and antisemitic conduct. Galliano announced the decision himself on Instagram, saying he remained "deeply sorry" for the hurt caused to the "Jewish and Asian communities" and did not want the controversy to overshadow the Met's Costume Institute. The move is significant as it would have made him only the third living designer honoured with a Met retrospective, after Yves Saint Laurent and Rei Kawakubo.

Galliano was convicted of a hate crime by a French court in 2011 after berating a couple with antisemitic and anti-Asian abuse, a scandal that cost him his positions at Christian Dior and his own label. The exhibition had been intended to confront that "rupture" directly, but was pulled just days after the New York Times reported on mounting objections to the Met honouring him. Met director Max Hollein confirmed the decision was made jointly with Galliano, and the museum has not said what will replace the exhibit, leaving the 2027 Met Gala without a confirmed theme and its usual first-Monday-in-May date uncertain.