Viral Italian model says he’s fired from Met Gala for upstaging Kylie Jenner last year

An Italian model and greeter who worked at last year’s Met Gala has claimed he has been fired three days before this year’s event because he upstaged Kylie Jenner at last year’s celebration.

Eugenio Casnighi said he is being punished by his agency, who he doesn’t identify, for going viral in the background of photos of the reality star as she posed on the red carpet.

The 26-year-old said he had been working at the Gala, which marks the fashion industry’s most anticipated red-carpet event, for the last two years. His job was to “be with Kylie Jenner the whole night” and help her with “whatever she needed”.

Despite his attendance being confirmed over a month ago, he claims to have been given less than three days notice before being informed he was no longer welcome.

“I just got fired from the Met Gala,” Casnighi began in a video to his TikTok followers.

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The Italian model had previously been unable to address the attention as he was under an NDA but said, “It’s funny enough, they fired me so I can say whatever I want now.”

Opening up about the reasons behind his last-minute removal from the event, he said that he was being made to pay for taking attention away from celebrities on account of his looks.

“They blamed me,” he said. “They said ‘You made it about yourself, so we don’t want to work with you anymore.’”

He added: “They let me know today that they cut me off. They fired me because I went viral last year.”

Casnighi was upset by the issue as he said that the company he had signed with had reassured him that the purpose of his recruitment was to increase his profile as a model in his own right.

“It’s funny because the Met Gala and the company that I’m not going to mention...want models to work the red carpet,” he said.

“They want people to get noticed. They literally told me, ‘We picked you because we like you more than other people.’

“But when people took pictures of the actual celebrity, like Kylie Jenner, and I was next to her, of course I ended up in the picture.”

Sponsored by Condé Nast, Loewe, and TikTok, this year’s gala is expected to be a parade of organic opulence, featuring archival couture and custom-made designs that epitomise eternal beauty through natural elements.

The co-chairs for the evening include Zendaya, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez, and Bad Bunny, while Vogue’s red-carpet hosts will be La La Anthony, Gwendoline Christie, and Ashley Graham, alongside special correspondent Emma Chamberlain.

This year’s theme honours the “sleeping beauties” in fashion – not the Disney fairytale. Inside the exhibit, 250 pieces from the Costume Institute’s permanent collection will be showcased, some dating back to the Elizabethan period.

The Independent