The Met Gala, a star-studded event, turned into a scene of protest as climate activists demanded that the wealthy pay higher taxes to address the climate crisis.

Paris Hilton and other celebrities found themselves encountering the protesters on their way to the event on Monday evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Fifteen protesters were arrested for disrupting Manhattan traffic and blocking the motorcades of the stars.

The protesters, some carrying pitchforks, sought to raise awareness about the top 1% of society’s role in exacerbating the climate crisis and to demand increased taxes on the wealthy. One protester, who was later arrested, stated that the goal was to shift attention from the Met Gala’s extravagance to the impending climate catastrophe. Critics of the event, which reportedly charges $50,000 per person and $450,000 per table, have criticized the luxurious display of wealth at a time when many people are struggling financially. Income inequality is exacerbating the impact of the super-rich on global warming.

According to Oxfam’s recent findings, the wealthiest 1% contributes more than twice the amount of climate-heating pollution compared to the poorest 50%. Billionaires are responsible for producing a million times more pollution than the average person. The protest’s motivation, according to Alice Hu, Senior Climate Campaigner at New York Communities for Change (NYCFC), is the devastating impact of the top 1% on the climate. Hu highlighted the irony of the ultra-wealthy profiting from fossil fuel investments while condemning the rest of the world to extreme weather and global food scarcity. Hu called on political leaders to impose targeted taxes on the wealthy to fund climate crisis solutions.

Climate activists in the US have been targeting various elite events and institutions recently. At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 29, activists drew attention to the Biden administration’s approval of new fossil fuel projects on public lands.