Joy Behar Rages at Jeff Bezos for Hosting Met Gala, Should Have Been Canceled

Nicholas Fondacaro
May 5th, 2026 2:30 PM

Text to Speech

00:00 00:00
Font Size

The Met Gala has always been a ritual of the uber-wealthy worshiping their vanity and excess, but despite being big fans of the event in previous years, ABC’s The View flip-flopped on Tuesday. What was different this year? Billionaire Jeff Bezos was the “honorary” chair of the event. Co-host Joy Behar was outraged. She accused Bezos of not paying taxes nor his employees, and proclaimed that the gala should have been canceled because of the war with Iran.

“I'm sick of him. I'm sick of him. I also love Amazon. That's my dilemma. Yeah, I love Amazon and he owns it,” Behar shouted.

It was clear that Behar was using Bezos as a punching bag stand-in for President Trump because she almost blamed Bezos for starting the war. “The country is spending nearly a billion dollars a day on this stupid war that he - that Trump started while they're gutting healthcare and social services.”

 

 

Calling the gala’s over-the-top extravagance “tacky” - which it always was, even before 2026 - Behar appears to blame Bezos for it all:

And I think it kind of tacky to be celebrating with all your wealth and all that while this is happening in this country. He's tacky, Bezos.

(…)

But, man, it's depressing to think of what goes on in this country and it cost $100,000 to get into that Met Gala. 100,000 and there are people who can't afford gas, they can't afford food. They can't afford bread. It's like we're living in some kind of Louis XV period in history.

Bezos was only the honorary chair of the event and the major donor. There were other people in charge of doing the organizing and legwork to put it on. He didn’t have the power to cancel it and it was the organizers who set the price. It wasn’t like average Americans were attending the gala, it was always contemptable.

 

 

Without evidence, Behar accused Bezos of not paying his taxes nor his Amazon employees. “Pay your taxes. And pay your employees and then I'll be happy to do Amazon because it happens to be a very good model for a company,” she chided.

Moderator Whoopi Goldberg would later join Behar in accusing Bezos of not paying taxes. She actually wanted Bezos to pay the corporate taxes for Amazon out of his own pocket. “I want him to pay the company's taxes. That's what I want,” she demanded.

As they were nearing the commercial break, Behar claimed that she and everyone in the audience paid more in takes that Bezos. “[S]omebody like him needs to pay and these billionaires -- I'm paying and you're paying and you guys are paying more than they are. It's not fair,” she shouted.

 

 

It was another example of The View’s girl math.

According to a 2021 article from far-left Propublica about how Bezos (and others) didn’t pay enough taxes, in 2018, the billionaire paid $1.4 billion in taxes.  According to a 2026 Parade magazine article, Behar’s salary from The View was $7 million (with a net worth of roughly $30 million). That meant, with just what Bezos paid in taxes, he could fund Behar’s salary for 200 years.

So, no, Joy. You’re not paying more taxes than Bezos.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
May 5, 2026
11:02:41 a.m. Eastern

(…)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: There were also crowds of protesters outside over this year's honorary chair and lead sponsor, billionaire Jeff Bezos. And he has not publicly commented on the backlash but what do you think of his involvement?

JOY BEHAR: I'm sick of him. I'm sick of him. I also love Amazon. That's my dilemma. Yeah, I love Amazon and he owns it and I mean, they -- The country is spending nearly a billion dollars a day on this stupid war that he - that Trump started while they're gutting healthcare and social services.

GOLDBERG: Right.

BEHAR: And I think it kind of tacky to be celebrating with all your wealth and all that while this is happening in this country. He's tacky, Bezos.

[Applause]

I mean, I mean, fine, I love Amazon, pay your taxes, Jeff -  Bezos. Pay your taxes. And pay your employees and then I'll be happy to do Amazon because it happens to be a very good model for a company.

GOLDBERG: Right.

BEHAR: But, man, it's depressing to think of what goes on in this country and it cost $100,000 to get into that Met Gala. 100,000 and there are people who can't afford gas, they can't afford food. They can't afford bread. It's like we're living in some kind of Louis XV period in history.

(…)

11:07:58 a.m. Eastern

GOLDBERG: And aside, aside from the controversy - and I'm like you, I also like my -- I like my Amazon and I want him -- I want him to pay his people.

BEHAR: That's all.

GOLDBERG: Want him to make the company better because they're slipping, you know, they're slipping so I want him to pay his -- I want him to pay the company's taxes. That's what I want.

BEHAR: I have no truck with those people would dressed up. I think it's great but somebody like him needs to pay and these billionaires -- I'm paying and you're paying and you guys are paying more than they are. It's not fair.

GOLDBERG: That's what we should be kvetching about. Make them pay, and that should be an outcry whether he does the Met ball or not, that should be a norm. Everybody pays -- they say the only thing you can depend on death and taxes. How come they don't depend on it?

And we'll talk more about fashion when we come back.

Donor Privacy Policy