The Met Gala’s vaccine requirement has become reason for some celebrities not to attend.
On Monday evening, the rapper Nicki Minaj tweeted that she had yet to receive the vaccine and would not be going to the gala as a result.
“They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met,” she tweeted on Monday, just around the time guests began arriving at the museum. She encouraged those attending to “be safe” and wear a mask with a good seal.
Invited guests were told they would be required to show proof of vaccination, receive a negative Covid-19 test and wear a mask at all times unless eating. (That last part hasn’t seemed to apply to the red — er, beige — carpet, where there have been more naked mouths photographed than masked faces.)
Since vaccines became widely available in the United States, the famous and inoculated have served as ambassadors — official and not — for getting vaccinated, which provides strong, safe protection against Covid-19.
Dolly Parton, whose funding helped support the research that led to the Moderna vaccine, posted on Twitter shortly after receiving a shot in March: “Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine.” She appealed to people who might be hesitant. “I just want to say to all of you cowards out there: Don’t be such a chicken squat,” she said in a video on social media. “Get out there and get your shot.”
In July, President Biden invited the 18-year-old pop star Olivia Rodrigo to the White House for a news conference in which she encouraged young people to get vaccinated. Joining a White House campaign to reach the unvaccinated, she said it was “easier than ever before” to get the shots.
