Met Gala 2023 Memes, jokes and TikTok have taken over the internet

The world is a stage, we are the players, and the 2023 Met Gala is a night of interactive theatre, with Met Gala memes, jokes and TikTok already in full force.

The party, on paper, is a large and elegant fundraiser that supports the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute. But materially, it’s a night for celebrity witnesses, for debate and judgement, and, if you’re on the internet, it’s your chance to get a successful tweet off the ground. The rich and famous show up for approval by a judging panel of hundreds of thousands of people with Twitter accounts. The Met Gala is, after all, a fancy dress party, and what’s a fancy dress party without a winner? It’s a night where champions are crowned and icons are born.

This year’s theme celebrates the late Karl Lagerfeld, the designer and creative director who led Chanel, Fendi and his eponymous label throughout his career. He is also, unquestionably, a notorious figure, both for his Anna Wintour-esque cult of personality and his controversial ethical statements, from criticism of the #MeToo movement to disparaging words about Angela Merkel’s move to open Germany up to refugees. It’s almost as if the cosmos wrote its own meme, dropping the Lagerfeld Met Gala on May Day.

The internet slowly blossoms into Met Gala jokes in the days before. Fashion’s most irreverent Twitter members and pop culture’s most irreverent Twitter members reluctantly join forces as they tweet during their evening of eye rolls and exclamations. And we couldn’t be more grateful for the color commentary on Fashion’s Biggest Night. The whole story online speaks to our sick nature: It gives us something to root for alongside our fellow human beings, and something to tear apart carnivorously.

So here we are citizens, on the first Monday in May 2023, paying tribute to a designer known by some for the professional iconography of his work and by others for the personal iconography of his ponytail and sunglasses. May tonight’s internet party be indulgent.

Check out all the best Met Gala 2023 memes, jokes, and TikToks.

The Cockroach

This is genuinely making me wonder if this is the first time a bug has ever sneaked past the bouncer outside the Met Gala tent, or if perhaps we were bored enough to notice this time around. How has the Met Gala historically handled pest control? Was it considered? Anyway, ICYMI (I don’t know how), a cockroach walked the toothpaste-patterned carpet at the Met with the full, undivided attention of the press. Yes, we actually got multiple shots from multiple angles of the cockroach. And that’s why we do it, baby. The moment you know a star is born.

Lil Nas X completely ignored the cell phone ban

The Met Gala is known to have a strict smartphone ban, with “the use of phones for photography and social media” absolutely not allowed inside the event. However, Lil Nas X clearly didn’t get that memo. As soon as the red carpet livestream ended, LNX gave us an inside look at the secret ball, posting a total of fourteen (!!!) photos and selfies on Twitter from inside the Met. The “Montero” singer posed with Naomi Campbell, Kim Kardashian, Ke Huy Quan, Billie Eilish, Conan Gray, Olivia Rodrigo, Cara Delevingne, Bad Bunny, Paris Hilton, Usher, Pete Davidson, Maluma, Anitta, Jack Harlow and l There’s only one other star who’s matched her outrageous carpet energy: Doja Cat.

The Great Fall of Jason Derulo

This comes every year. It’s more of an old folktale than a meme at this point. But we love it, don’t we? For those in need of an origin story, the joke began nearly a decade ago in 2015 thanks to a Twitter misunderstanding, which, in hindsight, inspires a complicated sense of dread within me. Either way, the crash didn’t actually happen, but Jason Derulo was never able to catch a break.

Jimin Stans against the world

Park Jimin is rumored to be making his Met Gala debut, and his fans are already getting defensive. As excited as the crowd is to see him make his grand appearance, some of them are already bracing themselves for the possible wave of criticism. She’s a beauty, but high fashion Twitter wants to see more than a pretty face on the 2023 Met Gala carpet — they want a celebrity to deliver.

Choupette Lagerfeld: a beauty feline

Perhaps more iconic than Karl Lagerfeld’s ponytail is his beloved rich cat, Choupette Lagerfeld. Though the fashion icon announced in an Instagram post that she wouldn’t be attending the Met Gala honoring her father, high fashion Twitter is eager to see Choupette’s legacy celebrated alongside Karl’s. Kim Kardashian made her first move, confirming her presence at the Met Gala last week by her posting photos of herself with Choupette. The internet has mixed reviews of Kim Choupette’s post, though I guess that’s kind of a given for her.

Suki Waterhouse understood the assignment

Suki Waterhouse is slowly becoming a princess of the people for me. The singer posted on her TikTok that she thought the theme was Karl Marx and then suggested a theme and an outfit change: that paparazzi-staged photo of Grimes reading the Communist Manifesto on a pedestrian crossing corner . Maybe this is no different than the category of Met Gala dresses with social justice slogans written on them, but it’s fair to say I’m a little wowed.

Men on red carpets and the bare minimum

Listen, men always wear plain clothes on red carpets and that’s a conversation for another day, but my god, it’s a costume party! With a theme! Enough! It’s depressing to see men take a chance to be funny and sexy and ruin it by wearing what they might wear to a funeral.

Rihanna’s delay

A trendy new level of delay is about to be reached tonight. More than an hour into the red carpet, Rihanna was seen finally arriving at her hotel to get ready. It’s incredible. Her lack of urgency is the object of all my envy. You will never be as apathetic as Rihanna is. She finally hit the mat with A$AP Rocky around 10:30. Album or no album, she’s a rock star.

Doja cat vape

Listen, who else would have dressed up as a cat? Of course it would be Doja Cat. The ears, the prosthetics, everything. He knows how to get people’s attention, even when he’s not even trying. The internet captured a screenshot of her vape inside the tent against the backdrop of the Vogue live stream in which Emma Chamberlain interviews BLACKPINK’s Jennie.

Jared Leto’s fur suit

It became clear that a second Choupette had arrived on the scene. This was less of a sexy cat vibe like Doja’s and more of a big-budget high school mascot. It was Jared Leto, of course. It might be easy for the internet to make fun of it, but at least it consistently honors the spirit of the Met Gala. Choupette’s fur dress for fashion’s biggest night out is a slay anyone can respect. Lizzo also broke her silence on the matter.

The new blue/black vs white/gold dress

Olivia Wilde and Margaret Zhao arrived dressed in the same Chloé violin dress, one black and one white. I’m not sure how that happened or what to think on the logistics front, but guys, I have to be honest. This is a bit of a disappointment. Most of the discussion online about this (accidental?) match is about who looks better, so it sucks. The fall of the Who Wore It Better sections of the tabloids was a victory. Let’s keep it that way! There are better ways to make jokes. For example, comparing them to the iconic blue/black vs white/gold dress moment from 2015.

Jack Harlow as Mr. Tumnus

Listen, it’s a good joke. Let me not spoil it by explaining too much.