Appearing Bravely at the Met Gala, This US House Member Reportedly Violated the Code of Ethics

First attending the Met Gala, the women's congress of the United States, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, stole the show for her fashion. The woman who is familiarly called AOC wore a simple white sabrina dress from Brother Vellies.

On the back, the dress bears a red political message and protest 'Tax the Rich'. This paper is aimed at society and the government so that the rich should also be taxed. Suddenly AOC received many positive comments because it was considered brave and smart to take advantage of the moment.

After a day, this move was then met with protests from Thomas Jones, founder of the American Accountability Foundation, a charity and educational organization in the US. Thomas believes that AOC has violated the code of ethics by receiving free tickets to attend the 2021 Met Gala. It is known that the Met Gala tickets themselves are sold for US$35 thousand or around Rp. 498 million.

According to a New York Post report, Jones requested that the Office of Congressional Ethics conduct an investigation into the AOC. Whereas in the rules of the congress, all members are allowed to receive free tickets from charity events given by the event organizers. But Thomas still doesn't accept it, he thinks the Met Gala is different from other charity events. Because every year the Met Gala guests are always specially curated by the major publication house that houses Vogue, namely Condé Nast.

Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.

"Despite the invitation bearing the name of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), the museum has transferred control of the invite list to non-profit companies, in particular Condé Nast, and to its Chief Content Officer, Anna Wintour," Thomas Jones wrote in his letter as quoted by the Daily Mail. .

He also included a report from the New York Times which wrote that The Met did not interfere in the selection of guests. More than 400 guests who come to the Met Gala are selected by Condé Nast.

The Met Gala has long been a fundraising event whose entire proceeds will be donated to the museum. But at the same time the Met Gala became the most luxurious and star-studded fashion event. And according to Thomas, this makes the Met Gala a form of celebration of luxury and exclusivity.

Not only that, Thomas also claims that Instagram, which is the main sponsor of the 2021 Met Gala, has succeeded in buying direct access to AOC which was previously impossible for ordinary people. According to Thomas, Instagram does this by paying for a table at the Met Gala to be filled by the special people they invite, including the AOC.

The application letter submitted to Thomas Jones will later be referred by the Office of Congressional Ethics to the US House Ethics Committee for further action. Even so, Thomas did not mention the issue of the AOC dress which contained protests.

The AOC responded to this boldly. According to him, he was present as a form of responsibility as a representative for New York. "Before you guys go crazy, elected officials in the city of New York are used to being invited to the Met Gala because of our responsibility to oversee our city's public-serving cultural institutions. I was one of several in attendance. This dress is on loan from Brother Vellies, " wrote AOC in the caption of the photo on Instagram.

On the official website of the US House of Representatives Ethics Committee itself, it is explained that tickets for charity events are not included in the prize category. "The value listed on the ticket or fundraiser is the value of the meal. The cost incurred by the buyer is not the same as the value of the ticket," said an ethics committee member as quoted by the New York Post.

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