The Metropolitan Museum of Art and British designer John Galliano announced Monday that they are canceling a planned exhibit honoring Galliano’s work, citing public outcry over his past conviction for antisemitic remarks.

The disgraced fashion powerhouse — who was convicted of a hate crime in 2011 and fired from Dior after a video surfaced of his drunken, antisemitic and anti-Asian tirade at a bar in La Marais, a Jewish quarter of Paris — was scheduled to be the focus of “John Galliano: Horizons,” a nine-month exhibition by the Met’s Costume Institute. The exhibition was scheduled to launch in May with the Met Gala, the star-studded annual spring benefit.  

Although Galliano publicly apologized for his rant years ago —  and the Met consulted with Jewish leaders including Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt ahead of announcing the exhibition — it sparked widespread criticism from some Jewish leaders, including New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who called the museum’s decision to highlight Galliano’s career “a serious mistake” in a letter she sent on Thursday to Met leadership. 

“After much reflection and discussion with The Met and all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time,” Galliano said in a statement about the decision. “I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it. I understand that meaningful atonement is not achieved through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture. It is a continuing responsibility, demonstrated through listening, learning and one’s conduct over time.”

On Monday, Menin said she was “pleased” that the Met agreed to not honor Galliano. 

“From the beginning, I have told them that I strongly disagreed with this decision, and at this rising time of antisemitism, it had served as a gut punch to the Jewish community. This is the correct decision, as the harm and pain this was causing was simply unacceptable,” Menin wrote on X. 

“Museums such as The Met must be held to a high standard of inclusiveness and tolerance, and I am pleased that they have listened to the concerns I have raised and reacted with the right decision. As the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and as the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council, this decision was personal to me, and the Jewish community and I felt a strong obligation to speak out.” 

“With antisemitism at crisis levels, the Met honoring John Galliano at this moment was misguided, and even Galliano ultimately recognized what the Met should have done from the start,” Greenblatt wrote on X. “This was the wrong move at the wrong moment. Timing matters.”