It was a fantastic night, and a ton of stars from all over the industry made an appearance. As always, the event was curated and hosted by the one and only editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour.
One such star making an appearance, who had never made his Met Gala debut up until this year, was none other than the King of Bollywood himself: Shah Rukh Khan. But what was supposed to be a historic moment has caused a whole ton of discourse online regarding his alleged treatment at the event.
To truly explain what went down, I’ll give you some context. Despite having never appeared in a Hollywood movie and keeping his red carpet appearances in the United States to a minimum over his 30-year career, Shah Rukh Khan is a very prolific actor. And in case you aren’t familiar, when I say this guy is a big deal, I mean this guy is a biiiiiiig deal.
The Met Gala is the celebrity event of the year. But anywhere east of Europe, Shah Rukh (or SRK, as he’s widely known) is probably more well-known than the actual Met itself. He’s the most famous actor to ever emerge from India, if not South Asia as a whole, has been in over 100 movies, and has had his work translated into pretty much every language imaginable. It’s hard to really describe SRK’s legacy, but Forbes summed it up pretty well when, back in 2015, they estimated that he was the biggest movie star in the world.
Although a lot of time has passed since that point, SRK’s present day image has shifted from global superstar to a film legend. If you’ve seen any Bollywood movie, you’ll likely know his face. And leading one of the biggest movie industries in the world means he is very famous.
Got the picture yet? Now, imagine the horror spreading through the South Asian community since Monday, when SRK attended the Met Gala and a well-meaning journalist asked him his name. The very idea!
In all seriousness, Vogue and the two hosts of the Met, Teyana Taylor and Ego Nwodim, have been the subject of a huge amount of scrutiny online since Monday, after a clip of them interviewing Shah Rukh and designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee (another legend, mind you) went viral for just being so awkward.
While definitely not intentionally dismissive, Ego and Teyana seemingly didn’t have much of an idea exactly who they were talking to. Although they rightfully highlighted how SRK was making history as the first male Indian actor to walk the red carpet at the Met, what followed has since sparked a ton of discourse online.
After being asked how he felt about being at the Met, Shah Rukh said he was “extremely nervous” as well as excited, and he highlighted how Sabyasachi convinced him to attend. “I’ve not done too many red carpets, I’m very shy,” he said. Ego and Teyana then tried to reassure him, pointing out that the carpet was blue instead of red, and asked if that eased his nerves. SRK played along, joking that he was “totally fine now.”
And as the conversation went on, it became clear that SRK was pretty heavily downplaying how much of a big deal it was that he was there, perhaps for the benefit of the interviewers. At that point, Sabyasachi himself chimed in and gave some much-needed info. After Shah Rukh described his look of the night, Sabyasachi jumped in, saying, “Just to give you a little bit of context, Shah Rukh Khan is probably one of the most famous men in the world,” before Ego and Teyana both looked pretty surprised.
“His fan following is legendary,” Sabyasachi continued. “We nearly had a stampede outside of the hotel when he came out. And when you get a man like this on the red carpet, especially when it’s Black dandy, I think representation is the most important thing, and we wanted to represent Shah Rukh Khan as Shah Rukh Khan and nobody else.”
Vogue’s interview, as well as this viral clip where SRK can be seen introducing himself by name after a reporter asked him who he was, have been shared thousands of times online by outraged fans. One commenter said, “Yall do know there’s a whole world outside of America. Just cause you don’t know who he is doesn’t mean the billions of others don’t, he’s quite literally one of the biggest stars no one can deny.” Another pointed out his global impact, saying, “dude has 3 generations of multiple races and ethnicities in his fanbase.”
Another user pointed out the difference between Shah Rukh’s experience in the States compared to one interview of his that was conducted in London, in which the reporters stressed the fact that at one point, he was a higher-paid actor than both Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp. “Sorry, it’s very vulgar to talk about money, but it’s very impressive,” one of the news presenters said, before the other agreed, saying, “We want to make no doubt that people know how important you are.”
After Monday, the New York Times reached out to Vogue about the backlash concerning Shah Rukh’s interview. Vogue responded, saying that Ego had in fact highlighted that Shah Rukh was the first male Bollywood actor to attend the Met. So that’s that for them, I guess.
Vogue also responded to criticism about the treatment of another South Asian guest in attendance at the Met, Diljit Dosanjh: another Bollywood superstar who you might have seen in his gorgeous turban and jewels on the carpet. Fans were upset that Diljit, who has sold out stadiums in North America, didn’t even get an interview with Vogue as many other guests did, and only had the focus of the livestream camera for about three or four seconds. The rep for Vogue said that the camera panning away from Diljit so quickly was “certainly not intentional.”
And the whole thing has the South Asian community up in arms. One creator expressed disappointment with Vogue’s response, demanding an “apology, not a justification.” Another commenter suggested that “it’s ok Americans don’t know who SRK is, what’s not ok is the interviewers not doing their research on him.”
SRK, however, has said himself that his experience in the States greatly differs from the rest of the world. When giving a speech at Yale in 2012, he memorably said, “Whenever I start feeling too arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to the U.S.”
Anyway, as a South Asian, what’s important is that we call out the BS and make sure we support one another, especially right now. Let’s all remember our worth and check up on each other, yeah? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.