Olivia Munn at the 2018 Met Gala on Monday night. Image by Getty Images

The theme of the Met Gala 2018 is Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.”

All Jewish culture reporters should be sitting at home right now sipping martinis.

And yet, here we are.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

We’re here because actress Olivia Munn, a beautiful and beloved comic actress who is not Jewish, arrived at the Met Gala in gold chainmail, announcing to reporters that her look was “inspired” by The Crusades.

via GIPHY

Munn walked the carpet in a slithering gold dress by H&M with daring side slits, and a chain-mail headdress by decorated designer Michael Schmidt. The actress made it clear that she created this homage to the Crusades in collaboration with H&M designers.

Oh, Olivia.

You could be asleep for 90 percent of high school European history and almost all of Hebrew school and still know that The Crusades were one of the least fun things that have ever happened to the Jewish people. Up there with the Spanish Inquisition, the nearly 200 years of religious wars that European Christians wrought on Muslims in an attempt to control land resulted in the horrific slaughter of innocent Jews caught in the crosshairs. Muslims, too, were brutally murdered en masse in the name of the Christian faith.

At some points during the Crusades, things got so bad that Jewish parents killed their own children as an “insult” to the oncoming Christian barbarians, who would have killed them anyway. So, yeah — a really inspiring event.

The Crusades were an attempt by the Pope and the Byzantine Emperor to consolidate power under the guise of Christianity. The same could be said of celebrities who, under the guise of celebrating Catholicism, use a Christian-themed fashion exhibition to sell clothing to the masses.

Now who’s the offensive one?

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount