Sarah Paulson adorned her outfit with a money mask at Monday’s Met Gala in New York City, but the stunt didn’t send the intended message. (Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for The Met Museum / Vogue)
By Michael Schwarz May 5, 2026 at 1:16pm
For good or ill, Americans tolerate all sorts of self-indulgent behavior from our rich celebrities. Most of the time, we simply roll our eyes and move on with our lives.
However, when the uber-privileged pose as critics of privilege, we instinctively recoil from their repulsive virtue-signaling.
At Monday’s Met Gala — the annual gathering of fashion-obsessed celebrities that doubles as a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City — actress Sarah Paulson wore an outfit designed to protest “the one percent,” prompting one user on the social media platform X to quip that “[s]he’s protesting herself and her friends.”
“What’s the name of this look?” a gala-goer asked in a clip posted to X.
“The one percent,” Paulson replied.
The “look” featured a dollar bill over the actress’s eyes, presumably to signify those blinded by money.
Sarah Paulson says her #MetGala look is called “The One Percent.” pic.twitter.com/6wM1uYcjiT
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) May 5, 2026
According to the real estate news website Elite Agent, Paulson has an estimated net worth of $12 million.
In other words, the actress, perhaps best known for roles in “American Horror Story” and the feature film “12 Years a Slave,” looks suspiciously like a one-percenter herself.
In fact, for data available through 2022, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis placed the cutoff for the net-worth 99th percentile at just north of $11 million.
That would place Paulson squarely inside the one percent.
Thus, her lame protest did not go over well on X.
“This is the worst one at the Met Gala,” women’s sports advocate Jennifer Sey wrote. “Sarah Paulson’s dollar bill mask is some sort of protest against the 1% of which she is a part. If you want to protest the rich don’t go to an event that costs $100k per ticket. And give your $12m net worth away.”
This is the worst one at the Met Gala.
Sarah Paulson’s dollar bill mask is some sort of protest against the 1% of which she is a part. If you want to protest the rich don’t go to an event that costs $100k per ticket. And give your $12m net worth away. pic.twitter.com/0evwfcGwNN
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) May 5, 2026
Other X users called the stunt “tone-deaf,” “brain-dead,” and “hypocritical.”
Sarah Paulson must live in a deeply confined bubble, or her ego, which has to be satiated does not allow her to see just how tone-deaf this stunt was https://t.co/RI92w1KC4e
— Jesse (Chudmax Supreme) Burkhart (@JesseBurkhart7) May 5, 2026
Sarah Paulson is worth $12 million and paid $100k to attend the Met Gala but thinks putting a dollar bill over her eyes makes her some kind of revolutionary calling out the 1%. Babe, you ARE the 1%.
This is the most brain-dead, hypocritical celebrity stunt of the year. How… pic.twitter.com/J5cDoGUKzA— M.O.D.A.F.O.K.A (@getrichordietri) May 5, 2026
She’s protesting herself and her friends.
— kristen B (@SoJudgmental) May 5, 2026
Even the reliably liberal Cosmopolitan magazine criticized Paulson for her “pseudoactivism.”
In short, Paulson’s stunt brought attention not to wealth inequality, but to herself. That is, after all, the point of most left-wing activism, pseudo or otherwise.
In this case, at least, the virtue-signaling hypocrisy was too glaring for anyone to ignore.
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Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.
