Timothée Chalamet appears to have once again chosen his beloved New York Knicks over his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, stepping out Monday night at a playoff game in Madison Square Garden instead of joining Jenner uptown at the Met Gala.
Last year, Jenner, 28, walked the storied Fifth Avenue steps solo as Chalamet, 30, stayed home to watch the Knicks play the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of their series.
In a subsequent podcast appearance, the Marty Supreme star said he was too “locked in” with the Knicks to attend fashion’s biggest night with his partner of three years.
“That Knicks run last year, I think that was the most fun period of my life. Those four months, I’m not even kidding. Just the Garden being electric,” he explained.
On Monday, the Knicks took on the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Madison Square Garden — just a few miles downtown from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
At the Met Gala, reality star and beauty mogul Jenner has become part of the furniture, attending nearly every year since 2016. Her famous family — the Kardashian-Jenners — have long been among the event’s most reliable headline-makers.
Meanwhile, Chalamet has become a similar staple at the Garden, where he’s regularly seen courtside on Celebrity Row, celebrating emphatically with the team — often with Jenner alongside him.
Last year, he was even filmed taking part in wild celebrations on the street after the Knicks defeated the Celtics to reach their first Eastern Conference Finals in 25 years. “It’s official, he’s the king of New York,” one person eulogized on social media at the time.
Another Knicks superfan who faced a similar dilemma this evening was Spike Lee. Last year, the BlacKkKlansman director faced backlash from sports fans after missing the Knicks’ win over the Celtics to attend the Gala, the theme of which last year was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
Despite wearing his Knicks cap on the red carpet, Lee received blowback online, with Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina writing: “Spike Lee blowing off the Knicks game for the Met Gala is his second worst move ever after taunting Reggie Miller.”
The feud between Miller and Lee peaked in the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, when Miller gave Lee a “choke” gesture, leading to a legendary on-court taunting battle.
“He went to the Met Gala? Come on man you can’t be super fan for everything from St. John’s to the Liberty and then skip game 1 against the Celtics to get photographed w a bunch of a**holes,” wrote another on X last year.
This year, Lee was reportedly in attendance on Monday at the Garden, though he apparently still wanted to have some Met-style fashion fun and was wearing a basketball-shaped bag.
Chalamet, having now skipped a few Galas, could face similar blowback. The Dune star has only attended the Gala once, as co-chair in 2021, meaning it might not be the top of his priorities.
Jenner has supported the actor at multiple premieres and awards ceremonies over the past year, as he has been on the awards circuit for Josh Safdie’s ping pong drama Marty Supreme. Leaving her to go it alone at the Met might invite a different kind of criticism altogether.
Attending both events did not seem to be an option; the Knicks tipoff was at 8pm ET, while the red carpet began at 6pm. For a celebrity of Chalamet’s magnitude, arriving and leaving early isn’t really an option either. Last year, Rihanna kept everyone waiting until the cleaners were on the carpet, and by the time the game is done, the Gala’s secrecy-shrouded proceedings will be well underway.
Chalamet has clearly made his decision, a boon to the long-suffering Knicks fanbase, even if it will make for an awkward ride home in the Chalamet-Jenner house.