There goes his invite! Zayn Malik slams the 'self-indulgent' Met Gala, revealing he only attended with Gigi Hadid in 2016 to 'take the p**s' and insisting it's 'not something he would go to now'
- Zayn, 25, detailed his distaste for the exclusive soiree in a new interview with GQ
- While he attended the 2016 edition of the gala with his on-again, off-again girlfriend Gigi Hadid, 23, Zayn said he only went to 'take the p**s'
- 'I'd rather be sitting at my house, doing something productive, than dressing up in really expensive clothes and being photographed on a red carpet,' he added
- Tickets to the event reportedly cost $30,000 per person, and all guests have to be cleared by Anna Wintour
- When Zayn attended the event, the theme was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology; he said he went as his 'favorite Mortal Kombat character'
- Other celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lena Dunham, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, and Demi Lovato, have attended the glamorous bash and criticized it
Zayn Malik is not a fan of the Met Gala - and he doesn't care who knows it.
The singer, 25, detailed his distaste for the exclusive soiree in a new interview with GQ, claiming that while he attended the event in 2016, he did so in an ironic way.
'I did go, but I didn't go there to be like, "Yo, take me serious,"' he told the publication. 'I was taking the p**s! I went there as my favorite Mortal Kombat character, Jax.'
Not a fan: Zayn Malik, 25, detailed his distaste for the Met gala in a new interview. He is pictured attending the exclusive event in 2016 with Gigi Hadid
When Zayn attended the event, the theme of the ball was Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.
His personal interpretation resulted in an otherwise classic black tuxedo worn with matching dress shoes and a white button-down shirt, with the eye-catching addition of metallic sleeves going from his shoulders to his fingers.
Zayn, who rose to fame as part of the boy band One Direction before going solo in 2015, said his stylist originally convinced him it would be a good idea for him to attend the bash.
'The Met Gala is not necessarily anything that I ever knew about or was about. But my [former] stylist… would say to me, "This is really good for you to do." And no matter how strong you are mentally, you can always be swayed to do certain things,' he said.
'Now, it's not something I would go to. I'd rather be sitting at my house, doing something productive, than dressing up in really expensive clothes and being photographed on a red carpet.…
'To do the self-indulgent look at me, I'm amazing thing on the red carpet, it's not me.'
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Uncanny: The singer said his outfit during the 2016 bash (left) was inspired by his favorite character in the video game Mortal Kombat, Jax (right)
Influence: Zayn, who rose to fame as part of One Direction before going solo in 2015, told GQ his stylist originally convinced him it would be a good idea for him to attend the bash
The singer attended his first (and likely only) Met Gala with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, model Gigi Hadid, 23 — and eventually insisted that while he doesn't enjoy showing off on the red carpet, he admits some people might have a different take.
'I get it, and I understand that people gain enjoyment from it,' he added.
Asked whether he followed the coverage during this year's Met Gala, which occurred just a few days prior to his interview with GQ, Zayn said he didn't, although he added that Gigi 'stole the night' with her stained-glass-inspired dress.
While Zayn, who appears on the cover of GQ's July issue, doesn't appear to have enjoyed his time at the Met ball, others take great pains to make sure they are included on the star-studded guest list.
Tickets to the event reportedly cost $30,000 per person, and all guests have to be cleared by Anna Wintour, the chair of the event.
Praise: Asked whether he followed the coverage of this year's Met Gala, Zayn said he didn't, although he added that Gigi 'stole the night' with her stained-glass-inspired dress (pictured)
Although spots for the glamorous gala are highly sought after, Zayn is not the first celebrity to publicly slam the ball.
Gwyneth Paltrow, 45, pledged never to attend the event again in 2013, telling USA Today: 'I'm never going again. It was so un-fun. It was boiling. It was too crowded. I did not enjoy it at all.'
Cover boy: Zayn appears on the cover of GQ's July issue
She also told Australian radio hosts Kyle and Jackie O: 'Like you always think, "Oh my God. This is going to be so glamorous and amazing and you're going to see all these people."
'And then you get there, and it's so hot. It's so crowded. Everyone's pushing you. This year it was really intense. It wasn't fun.'
While she swore off the gala in 2013, Gwyneth did return to the Met ball in 2017, dressed in a single-shoulder pale pink gown in response to the theme: Rei Kawakubo / Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between.
Amy Schumer, 37, is also among the A-listers who have made their negative feelings for the event public.
She bashed the gala in a 2016 interview with Howard Stern, telling the host attending the event 'felt like a punishment'.
'We're dressed up like a bunch of f—king a–holes,' she added. 'And I have no interest in fashion.'
Speaking out: Gwyneth Paltrow and Amy Schumer (both pictured at the 2017 Met gala) are among the few celebs who have criticized the soiree
Opting out: Demi Lovato, who went to the event for the first time in 2016 (left), later said it was a 'terrible experience'. Tina Fey, who went in 2010 (right), didn't enjoy the bash either
Despite her comments, Amy, who attended her first Met Gala in 2016, returned the following year.
Tina Fey, who attended the event in 2010, later called the gala 'such a jerk parade' during an interview with David Letterman.
'It's this beautiful space and it's just every jerk from every walk of life is there wearing some stupid thing,' she added.
Demi Lovato, who also went to the event for the first time in 2016, later told Billboard it was such a 'terrible experience' it made her want to drink again, even though she was working on maintaining her sobriety.
'This one celebrity was a complete b***h and was miserable to be around. It was very cliquey,' she told the publication, adding: 'I changed my clothes, but I still had my diamonds on — millions of dollars of diamonds on in an AA meeting.
'And I related more to the homeless people in that meeting who struggled with the same struggles that I deal with than the people at the Met Gala — fake and sucking the fashion industry's d**k.'
