Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Two Mondays ago, the same night as the May meeting of ANC 2E, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio showed up at the Met Gala and didn’t act his age.
Co-chaired by?transcendent sovereign?Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, with the beguiling Anne Jacqueline Hathaway, among many others, on hand (despite all the kvetching about sponsors Jeff and Lauren Bezos), the event raised $42 million.
This year’s gala took its cue from “Costume Art,” an exhibition at the Met’s Costume Institute that?ruminates on?body types, including the aging body. On May 4, Bad Bunny took it to the next level.
The 32-year-old singer-songwriter showed up looking five decades older. Another half-crocked stunt or silly cosplay this was not. His makeup took hours to apply.
It was entirely intentional that we were seeing the Super Bowl LX halftime performer as an elegant, 80-something abuelo. Clutching his walking stick, he was slapping back at a looksmaxxing, cosmetic surgery-obsessed culture in the very hall that was celebrating it.
As he got ready for the Met Gala, Bad Bunny told Vogue: “Fashion ages, but the art within it does not expire. It?doesn’t?get old. Of course, our bodies might age, but what we carry inside doesn’t, right??You’re?not just aging.?You’re?learning and evolving. And, at least for me, I strive every day to become a better person and a better artist.
“Everything I do, including music, I want it to feel different and personal. If you’re taking the right path — nobody knows the right path, of course — but if you’re taking everything you want to do so that when you’re this age, you have nothing to regret: If I were to die right now, I’m going to heaven.”
Do not fear aging and your own mortality, Benito?opines. Appreciate yourself right now. Not bad for a singer who cried, “I should have taken more photos.”?
We wonder if he knows that May is officially Older Americans Month.