NYC NOW - Why Mayor Mamdani Skipped the Met Gala This Year

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

This year's Met Gala had plenty of bold looks, but the bigger story was who decided to stay home. Arts & Culture Editor Matthew Schnipper joins us to break it down, plus never before seen Keith Haring works going to auction, what's coming up at SummerStage, and the best frozen treats in the city this summer. Photo: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images -Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail]

From WNYC, this is NYC now. I'm Jene Pierre. So one of Keith Herring's best friends from growing up, a guy named Kermit Oswald, had some stuff that Keith made for him, but what does it mean to get rid of these kind of treasures? That came from someone you knew so intimately, who ended up becoming a legend.

Keith Herring's bestie is parting ways with some of the late artist's works. Plus, the lineup for the summer stage comedy, We'll get into that and more on this edition of the Arts and Culture Checking. But first, here's what's happening in our region. New York City's Rink Guidelines Board is considering a rent freeze for roughly 1 million regulated apartments. Board members voted to consider increases ranging from 0 to 2% on one-year leases and 0 to 4% on 2-year leases.

It's the first time the board has considered freezing rents on 2-year leases. The preliminary vote keeps alive a key campaign promise from Mayor Zora Mumdani, who's called for a rent freeze. The board plans to cast a final vote in June. Mayor Mam Dani is cautiously optimistic the state will help stabilize the city's finances. His optimism came after Governor Kathy Hokel announced what she called a general agreement on a $268 billion budget deal. Mumdani says state negotiations are close to zeroing out the city's nearly five and a half billion dollar budget deficit. Then it means we do not have to raise property taxes. We do not have to make cuts.

We do not have to rate our reserves. And that's why their partnership in getting that number down to zero is so critical because it allows the city to finally be back on firm financial footing, something we haven't been on for quite some time. The mayor will deliver his executive budget on Tuesday. That's the next phase. in the city's budget process. We're getting our first look at the 2026 season schedule for Celebrate Brooklyn.

It features 15 free and three ticketed shows taking place from June to September. The lineup includes R&B legend Patty LaBelle, Percussion Queen Sheila E, rapper Common, and the Brooklyn DJ duo St. James Joy. This year is the festival's 47th summer of events. Most of the shows will take place at Prospect Park's Lena Horn Band Show.

Speaking of summer happenings, there's a lot more to get into in New York City. We'll get the rundown in our arts and culture check-in. That's coming up after a quick break. Welcome back to another edition of our bi-weekly arts and culture check-in. It's a look at what's been coming across the arts and culture desk here at WNYC and our news site, Gothamus. Of course, joining me to walk us through it all is Matthew Schnipper. He's the newsroom's Arts and Culture editor. Happy May, Matt.

Thank you, Cheney. You know, with May comes an official start of summer in a few weeks. And I feel like one of the most iconic arts and culture events happens right at the beginning of the month. And that's the Met Gala. First Monday in May. Yeah, it was star-studded, as always. Lots of celebrities and attendance. Do you have any favorite looks?

Yeah. So, you know, it's funny this year, the theme of the show that this is all supposed to be promoting, was costume art, and the dress code was fashion is art, which means nothing. I think some people interpreted that literally as let me wear a Matisse cutout. I thought that Chase Infinity's dress was beautiful, you know, very colorful in these long strings that look like paint. A lot of other people I thought looked kind of hokey. I did like, as did a lot of other folks, I think, Heidi Klum dressing up like a sculpture.

Yeah. Did you pick up that that was her the entire time? Yeah, I think I saw a picture. It was like Heidi Klum as a sculpture. I mean, it looked gross and awesome. And it's like if you're going to really do it, do it. Yeah. I loved Bad Bunny as an old man.

Oh, my God. That was hilarious. I thought that was great. You know, I feel like if you're going to spend a bunch of money getting, you know, transforming, transform. Yeah. I think there's a lot to say about this year's MetGala and its sponsors. I think there is to me less to say about what people were wearing, which was clothes. Let's talk about that because there were a lot of absences this year.

And we have to talk about folks who decided to protest against the Met this year and Jeff Bezos. I thought it was interesting. The mayor decided not to go. Right. And he published a series on Instagram highlighting people who make clothes, the people kind of behind the scenes. Behind the seams. Nice. And I think that was a valuable thing to do.

You know, I was reminded of when AOC went several years ago and she had a dress that said tax the rich, I believe. But she was still there. You know, I think it was interesting. I think that the mayor decided that his absence would speak louder than any sort of presence with a message. And he said, this is not the type of city that I think he is trying to promote. So I thought it was a smart political, a savvy political decision. Very savvy. And he was not alone.

As I mentioned, a lot of celebrities decided not to participate this year, including my dear friend, Merrill Streep. Why are you laughing? I didn't know where you guys were tight. She doesn't know either. But no, Merrill Streep was not there. And I thought that this would be a good year for her to go being that Devil Wears Prada, too, came out on last weekend. Yeah, and she's on the cover of Vogue with Anna Wintour right now. Looking so good.

Mm-hmm. So good. You know, aside from the Meggala, though, there's been so much going on in the city. And a lot has been coming off of your desk. Let's talk about some of it. Yeah. I think the first thing we were excited about was Summer Stage dropped their summer lineup. Oh, yeah.

There are a lot of concerts. and other events, but mostly concerts coming up. There is over 60 free and ticketed shows at 13 parks across all five boroughs. So I'm pretty excited for that. I always love going to summer stage. And this is their 40th year. Which is pretty impressive. You know, the first summer stage concert was SunRaw 40 years ago in Central Park.

I think it's pretty amazing that actually their group is still performing. It's just like summer stage is still happening. So shout out to them. Who are you excited to see? You know, I have two things that I'm excited to see. You know, I'm a old millennial, geriatric millennial. That's the phrase I'm looking for. Okay.

And so I grew up, you know, on 90s rock radio. And they have a show with Spin Doctors are performing, which is the Two Princes Band. Do you know this? I don't. But I did notice there are a lot of rock bands on the lineup this year. So Gin Blossoms are playing. And I have to say, if you have not revisited Jim Blossoms recently, this is another great class all you know all radio all rock radio 90s group these songs are timeless and i think i love them

when i was a kid you know when i was like probably a preteen but they have held up i have to check them out they're great honest i was like this is just classic and it holds up summer stage it's such a great opportunity to go out enjoy the summer weather enjoy the park and check out a band that you're not familiar with for free i do want to say absolutely i think if you're going to see one thing, though. Every year the rapper Mike puts on an event, Mike's Young World and Herbert Von King Park in Brooklyn. And this year he has Max B performing. Max B is pretty recently out of prison. Mike usually has kind of younger artists. This is a really an intergenerational meetup. And Mike, I think, is a quintessential New York City young rapper. And Max B is a quintessential

New York City slightly older rapper. Yeah, I can see all the old heads taken over Herbert von King Park once again. It's interesting because, you know, Max B is from Harlem. And so, you know, I'm curious to see who's going to schlep to Brooklyn to see him perform. Listen, everybody from Harlem always parties in Brooklyn, especially in the summertime. Well, I'll see you at Herbert Von King. Yeah, I'm looking forward to a couple people out there. Yeah, we were excited about.

The rock band Bodega. I actually know them. They're pretty cool. Love Ravi Coltrane. Oh, yeah. Big fan of his. And anytime I get to see Dougie Fresh in New York, it's always a good time. A legend.

Check out the whole lineup for Summer Stage on gothness.com. We've got it all up there for you. You know, Matt, one thing I really love about New York is how as soon as it gets warm outside, you know, people start selling homemade cocktails or mocktails. And they're like, you know, I need something cold and sweet. Yes. In fact, I just had a nutcracker last weekend. Is you?

Yeah. All right. We don't have a list of the best nut crackers in the city, but we do have a list of the best ice cream and palettes and frozen custard and the top ten things from our food writer, Robert Sizma, is up on Gothamist.com right now. Any suggestions? Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I think he has me curious to try a enormous Chinese chain, which has recently opened a couple of locations in New York called New York. called Michu. I believe I'm saying this correctly because I tried to watch a jingle so I can

Mishwe. So our producer has corrected me. This pronounced Mishwee. And they have like dollar soft serve. He said it's quite airy, which he thinks might account for the cheap price. But he said it's really good. You know, so there's one in downtown Brooklyn and there's another on Canal Street, not far from our office. So I was hoping I would check that out at some point. We can take a walk after this. That sounds nice to me. And I think I want to just make a note. I did try to convince Robert to check out a place in my neighborhood in Clinton Hill.

Robert who? Robert Sitzima, who wrote. Forgot about him that quick. I'm trying to get to Mishwe. I want to shout out a favorite of mine that didn't make the list. There's a place in my neighborhood on Waverly and Clinton Hill called Impasto. It's a pizza place, great pizza place. but they have soft-served gelato.

And they'll either do vanilla or pistachio or a twirl for you. They'll put olive oil on it and salts on it if you want. I get it without that because maybe I'm plain, I don't know. And it is so good. Okay. It's not the same as a dollar for, you know, the airy Chinese ice cream, but this is, it is worth it. Yeah. I think I'm going to have to skip on Mishwe, only because

I'm a dairy-free girlie. Okay? So did Robert have any recommendations for folks like me? Yes, he did. You know, Van Lewin, which now seems like an establishment, but he reminded us actually started not that long ago just as a ice cream truck. It's now, you know, they have a few locations in the city and you can go to most grocery stores and get their pints.

But he really recommended Van Luen. Yes, their ice creams are great. Very straight ahead. Shout out to the banana. But they have a lot of vegan ice cream. Yeah. And they really do. they put the work in.

So they have both like they have a cashew and a coconut, different kind of base. It's great. Yeah. I go there often. You go to Van Loen? Yeah. Yeah. They have a like you mentioned, dairy-free option.

Do you get to taste them all? So that's a win for me. The point here is stay cool. You know, it's funny. I do want to say also, I spend a lot of time trying to figure out puns for this headline. Like cool ice cream for hot people kind of thing. And I just didn't quite get there. No, never.

I want to confess my sins. What were the headlines? Let me throw them out. Frozen ice and frozen ice for spicy people. Hot folks eating chili treats or sweet treats for sweet folks, which wasn't so much like an opposites pun as just running on the sweet thing. You know, like, you know, if you're cold, let these ice creams warm up your hearts. Like, you know, it didn't.

Nobody needed this. Sometimes I can make the bland the pun. And this was more like, here's our list. Yeah. Well, I'm glad Van Luen hit the list. And another one of my favorites, we used to have one right here on West Houston, Morganstern. Oh, yeah. They're really good.

But this one up here just closed. Are you eating ice cream during the workday? It depends on what kind of day I've had, yes. Noted. Okay. Yeah. I just hope that all these other spots stay open next summer. Yes.

You know, Hannah Frischberg, she is a journalist on my team. She has been tracking different shops, different businesses, restaurants, venues that open and close. So each month we've been kind of noting the turnover in the city. Oh, boy. Is this a long list? Longer than you want it to be. Yeah. I mean, we want it to be hopeful.

There's a reason we didn't have it just be things that are closing. We know that, you know, renewal comes to the city. But sometimes when you go through and you see X, Y, Z, the place that's been open for, you know, a billion years has shut down, it can break your heart. But yeah, right after we put out our list most recently, we've saw that Caputo's in Carroll Gardens has closed. Yeah. It's been around for a hundred and twenty-four years. No way. Yes.

That has to suck for a century-plus old establishment. Yeah, I mean, imagine you've been open since the Great Depression. But they were deeply beloved in the neighborhood. And actually, a lot of people have reached out to me to say, hey, make sure this is on your list. This place is, it made a big difference to people. Yeah. That's the circle of life, I guess. Yeah.

But, you know, a bakery closes in Carroll Gardens and a candy store opens in Fort Green. Okay. Keep the sweets coming. Yeah. Kat Serino, a 10-year-old resident of Fort Green, a former consultant, she opened canned door last month on Fulton. Inside, it's got sweet treats of all types. Nostalgamation delights. Gummy's galore in a high design space that is architecturally speaking, not going to be appreciated by the youngest of its patrons.

Oh, boy. But it's good. I've been a few times, actually. This is not so far. You could actually do an impasto candor back-to-back sugar high if you wanted to. Okay. A little bit of a walk, but not so bad. But if you are in that neighborhood, you might be stuck there because this summer, the GEDA.

G train is going to be closed a bunch. People are not happy about it. 10 weekends? That's crazy. No, thank you. And speaking of the weekends, listen, this is the breakdown. You got three weekends in June, two in August, one in September, and three more in December. So the rest of the year.

Yeah, if you're trying to go to Long Allen City, if you're trying to go to Church Ave, if you're trying to go to my house. Get a city bike, call a cab, walk. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. One thing I'm trying to make sure I hit this weekend is Art Week. That started on May 5th and that'll be going until May 12th. Have you checked it out?

I haven't been, actually, no. Well, it's an independent art fair, has a lot of cool art from emerging artists. That'll be at the Spring Studios this weekend. And Matt, I really am trying to become one of the people that begin to purchase art. And I think that, you know, this is this is where it can happen. Yeah. What are you excited to try to get?

Hmm, something on canvas, something that is abstract. Okay. So colorful and something that really like pops out. That's exciting. Yeah. So we'll see. You know, I have a little bit of original art in my house. I have found poster art as a slightly cheaper.

way to make something beautiful show up in your house. That's my my go-to. Posters of what? I have a guy whose entire, I guess it's a bust, but it's all made of different pastas. Oh, nice. It's my favorite thing in the world, Seymour Chwast, I believe, was a kind of legendary designer made the pasta man, and I put an eBay alert for this for so long. This is not quite, I think, as elevated as the sort of art you were probably looking to. to purchase this weekend.

I'm realizing, as I'm saying, pasta man is not necessarily the thing. But we've got pasta man hanging in our house, and I love him. Okay, nice. Matt, there's another exhibition happening of Keith Herring's art. Yes. Can you tell me about that? This is interesting, and this is things that have really never been seen before by the public. So one of Keith Herring's best friends from growing up, guy named Kermit Oswald, had some stuff that Keith made for him.

I think most kind of amazingly, he had a. crib, this kind of beautiful yellow crib. I saw that. So, so good. It's so cool. And all of his kids had used it. And he had a set of a dresser drawers that he'd painted, also yellow with these sort of amazing Herring line figures.

They're just great. But there's also a self-portrait that Keith Herring did. And he didn't do too many of those. As a sphinx, it's just really great stuff. And Oswald, that kind of has said, it's, it's time. I think for this to move on. I think, you know, there is a question, what does it mean to get rid of these priceless things?

I mean, I guess they're not priceless. Sotheby's is selling them. Someone will put a price on them. But what does it mean to get rid of these kind of treasures that came from someone you knew so intimately who ended up becoming a legend? We spoke to him, you know, and he said, hey, it's time. We have more stuff in our house. This is not the, you know, the entirety of our herring collection.

But it did, you know, it gave me a twang. It's not his responsibility to tell us what it is he wants to do with this cash and why he wants to get rid of it. I don't know. You know we're journalists. I'm just nosy. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, it did make you go like, it gave you like a half a wince. Yeah.

Yeah. So where can we see this? You can see this at the Breyer, which is where the Whitney used to be on 945 Madison Avenue. It's open until May 13th. Okay. Matt, before I let you go, it's been a minute since we got one of your hot takes. So what's up? I have been watching season two of Running Point on Netflix.

Have you seen this show, Jeney? I have. Okay. And I really feel like... First season is great. And the second season, still great. Okay. I got to say, I think I might be in the tank for Chad Hanks.

Chad Hanks, I feel like I feel like I would have fun hanging out with Chad Hanks. I feel like he's really good on this show. I feel like he's self-aware, and I feel like he is a goober in a good way. Reach out. You may have a new friend. He doesn't want to talk to me. You never know. I don't care about really sports very much. I mean, I like sports.

I'm glad they exist. It's not for me. This is the amount of sports I need. Jena's face is horrified. Honestly, like, that's the hot take. You're not like all on the Knicks right now? When I was growing up, I was a big Knicks fan. I was a big sports fan.

My dad worked for ESPN, and I think I got at that point so deep in it that I was like, the only thing I care about is hardcore punk now. And I kind of just went the opposite. Wow. So, and then I just kind of never came back. Wow. You know, as we were though, we were talking about the Met, one person who did not go with Timothy Shalame, because he was at the next game. Wow. Well, that's right, Timothy Shalamee.

I think so. I don't know if that's the hottest take, but he made the right call. Go Nix. That's WNYC's Arts and Culture editor, Matthew Schnipper. Thanks again, Matt. Thanks for having me, Janice. And thank you for listening to NYC Now. If you have any hot takes you think we need to hear about,

hit us up at NYC now at WNYC.org. We'd love to hear from you, and we may share them on the next arts and culture check-in. I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.