MET GALA 2019

Alex Rodriguez Didn’t Recognize Anyone at the Met Gala Except Kendall and Kylie Jenner

“We had an Asian gentleman from ‘Rich Asians,’ the lead.”

by Steph Eckardt

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art's 2019 Costume Institute Benefit "Camp: Notes On Fashion"
Sean Zanni/Getty Images

Alex Rodriguez is the new cover star of Sports Illustrated—a semi-flattering honor, given that he’s the newest face of their “Where Are They Now?” issue, which “catches up with the stars and prominent figures from yesteryear.” And while it largely focuses on Rodriguez’s illustrious baseball career, it also, of course, touches on his present-day life as the fiancé of Jennifer Lopez. For Rodriguez, the latter has yielded the outcome of his dreams—ones that he’s harbored for two whole decades. And for us lowly readers, it’s yielded a much simpler, yet nonetheless delightful, pleasure: a highly amusing paragraph in his latest cover story.

As you may recall, back on the first Monday in May, Rodriguez attended this year’s Met Gala—a turn of events that seems unlikely to have transpired had he not been dating, not to mention become engaged to, Lopez. (Rodriguez, whose reaction to attending the 2019 Oscars with Lopez was “How the fuck did I get here?,” seems to have realized as much.)

According to the reporter, A-Rod was still “buzzing” from the Met Gala, which had taken place the night before, a portion of which he promptly recounted. “We had a great table,” he said of his and Lopez’s assigned seats inside the gala. Allow him to describe: “The black guy from The Wire—Idris Elba, yeah, and his new wife. Some famous singer next to me, I don’t know what her name is. Versace—Donatella. We had Kylie and Kendall. And we had an Asian gentleman from Rich Asians, the lead.”

Let’s break this down. According to A-Rod, Idris Elba, Golden Globe-winning actor, DJ, and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), is simply “the black guy”—not even the British guy!—”from The Wire.” Depending on how you interpret his phrasing, it’s also possible that according to A-Rod, Donatella Versace, a fashion icon responsible for making history with J.Lo—and, as Rodriguez shared on Instagram, dressing both of them for that night’s gala—is actually simply “some famous singer.” (It’s also possible that he’s still learning Donatella’s name, and failed to recognize someone like Ciara, who fits the bill of a “famous musician” wearing Versace.)

Thankfully, when it came to Henry Golding, Rodriguez remembered to add two keywords: “the lead.” (Describing a member of Crazy Rich Asians‘s all-Asian cast as “an Asian gentleman” doesn’t exactly give much to go on.)

And yet, Rodriguez seems to have had no trouble recognizing and remembering”Kylie and Kendall.” They weren’t exactly missable, but then again, neither was Versace, who we know he noticed because of his appearance in the top left corner of the photo below.

Alex Rodriguez watches Kylie Jenner, Jennifer Lopez, Donatella Versace, and Kendall Jenner pose on the red carpet of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala 2019 in New York City on May 6, 2019.

Jennifer Graylock/Getty Images

Unlike the rest, the Jenners even made it onto Rodriguez’s Instagram Stories. (The fact that he tagged them also suggests that he even knows their last name.) Kendall and Kylie were also the only ones who managed to jog Rodriguez’s memory enough to provide Sports Illustrated with an additional detail, which concluded his recap of the evening: “Kylie was talking about Instagram and her lipstick, and how rich she is,” he said of the semi-self-made billionaire.

Related: Alex Rodriguez Has Wanted to Date Jennifer Lopez Since 1998, and There Is Video Evidence

Met Gala 2019: See the Outrageous Looks Up Close and Personal

Kim Kardashian on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

Amy Lombard

Janelle Monae on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

Amy Lombard

Naomi Campbell on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Julianne Moore on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

Amy Lombard

Gwen Stefani on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Bella Hadid on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Emma Roberts on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

Amy Lombard

Ella Balinska on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

Amy Lombard

Sophie von Haselberg and Bette Midler on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Gigi Hadid on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Kacey Musgraves on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Karen Elson on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Katy Perry on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Cole Sprouse and Lilie Reinhart on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Elle Fanning on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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On the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Hari Nef on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Lili Reinhart on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Michael B. Jordan on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Rosie Huntington Whitley on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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On the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Miley Cyrus on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Shawn Mendes on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Shawn Mendes on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Jared Leto on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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On the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Anja Rubik on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Amber Valletta on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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Cody Fern on the red carpet at the Met Gala in New York City on Monday, May 6th, 2019. Photograph by Amy Lombard for W Magazine.

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