CelebritiesAnna Wintour (74), the editor-in-chief of Vogue, is facing embarrassing questions about her multi-million deal with TikTok to sponsor the Met Gala. This is reported by ‘Page Six’. Wintour will be joined on the red carpet by TikTok CEO Shou Chew, just days after President Biden signed a law banning the Chinese social media platform in the US.
The lavish ball will be hosted by Wintour on May 6, along with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth. TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, spent millions to sponsor the event in a deal that TikTok sources emphasized was struck long before the ban.
A Met Gala source told Page Six: “It’s true that the deal was done well before the passage of this law, but this is a PR disaster. What does Anna do? Does she invite TikTok a week in advance? That is not possible.” The source noted that many of the stars attending the gala also have ties to music giant Universal.
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Last month, Universal banned its artists from using the app and accused TikTok of “harassment” by only wanting to pay a “fraction” of the rate other platforms pay for music. Rihanna, a popular guest at the Met Gala who will also be in attendance, is also under contract with Universal and had her music removed from TikTok.
The US Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that gives ByteDance a year to sell TikTok or completely ban the app, which has 170 million US users. The House had already passed the bill, allowing Biden to sign it immediately.
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Tags: Anna Wintour fire multimillion dollar deal TikTok MET Gala sponsorship app banned Celebrities
