John Galliano canceled his exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2026, following criticism from donors and political leaders over his past antisemitic comments. ^[1] John Galliano wrote on Instagram that after much reflection and speaking with all involved, he decided with great sadness that the exhibition should not take place at this time, and that he remains deeply regretful of the pain his words caused to the Jewish and Asian communities. ^[2] John Galliano withdrew from a planned nine-month retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Monday. ^[3] The Metropolitan Museum of Art cancelled its John Galliano retrospective amid renewed concern over Galliano's past xenophobic and antisemitic tirades. ^[4] A French court convicted John Galliano in 2011 for making racist and antisemitic insults against Jewish and Asian customers at a Paris bar, leading to his dismissal as creative director of Christian Dior, a role he held from 1996 to 2011. ^[5] William Cruz Bermeo, a professor at the fashion design faculty of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, said the cancellation shows how cancel culture now influences those with economic and institutional power, and argued that a conviction should not become a perpetual civil death that prevents recognizing an artist's contribution to fashion culture. ^[6] A video from 2010 captured Galliano telling patrons at a Paris bar, 'I love Hitler,' and adding, 'Your mothers, your forefathers would be fucking gassed.' ^[7] The exhibition was scheduled to open next May with the Met's annual gala, which is described as lavish, lucrative, and star-studded. ^[8] Dana Thomas suggested that Anna Wintour's decades-long friendship with John Galliano illuminates a tension between private cultural influence and public institutional responsibility, particularly in the context of the Met Gala. ^[9] Dana Thomas, journalist and author of 'Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano', argued that the key issue behind the Met's cancelled Galliano retrospective is institutional power, not Galliano's stature as an artist and fashion designer. ^[10]