Ben Stiller admits he was scared skipping Knicks game for Met Gala: 'Gonna get some s--- for this'

Wesley StenzelThu, May 7, 2026 at 10:08 PM UTC

0

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor at the Met Gala in New York City on May 4, 2026
Credit: Kevin Mazur/MG26/GettyKey points -

Ben Stiller said that it was "really, really tough" to miss the New York Knicks game on the night of the Met Gala.

The Meet the Parents star said that he watched the game on his phone during the fashion event.

Stiller also said he feared backlash for attending the Met Gala instead of the playoffs: ''I think I'm gonna get some s--- for this."

Ben Stillerchose the Met Gala over seeing his New York Knicks in the playoffs — but he isn't particularly happy about his decision.

The Meet the Parents star discussed missing his favorite NBA team triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers in the first game of their second-round playoff series on Monday.

"It was a tough one for me," Stiller said on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday. "It's been a really interesting experience because I didn't think anybody really would care that much about whether or not I was there."

Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, ultimately chose the Met Gala over the Knicks game because they felt they owed it to the friend who invited them to the star-studded fashion event.

"A friend of mine invited us three months ago, and as the dates were coming up, of course, you don't know what the playoff dates are gonna be as they come up," he explained. "And about a week before, I started to see this, because I thought I'd thought of every other permutation in terms of clearing my schedule for playoff games, and [the Met Gala] was there. And honestly, it's a very good friend who got the table, who I felt, as a friend, it would be lame to cancel on our friend."

Still, it was disappointing for Stiller, who oriented his work schedule around the Knicks season and postseason, to miss the game, which saw New York's team beat the 76ers 137 to 98.

"The last season or so, I've tried to work my professional work life around the Knicks," he said. "All the way through to making sure that as this playoff run happens and this Final run could possibly happen, that I'm making sure that I'm gonna be there."

Once he realized he couldn't make the game, Stiller committed to repping the Knicks by coordinating his and Taylor's outfits to match the signature orange-and-blue color scheme of the team's uniforms. He also watched some of the game while inside the Met Gala.

Advertisement

"I would say, 'Okay, we're gonna wear our Knicks colors, I'm gonna have my phone,'" he explained. "You know, Anna Wintour doesn't like when people are watching their phones at the Met Gala, you know, she wants everybody's attention to be there, which I understand. I was watching the game, checking on it. But it was really, really tough."

Ben Stiller in New York City on April 28, 2026
Credit: Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty

Stiller knew that he'd receive criticism from other fans for missing his team's big night — and he considered canceling his Met Gala appearance. "I said to Christine the night before, I said, 'I think I'm gonna get some s--- for this. And I don't know what to do,'" he recalled. "And she said, 'Look, we have to do it. It's our friend. We made this commitment. There's nothing to do. We can't cancel.' Thought about canceling, and I said, 'I can't do it.'"

Unfortunately for Stiller, one of the Knicks' other celebrity superfans, Timothée Chalamet, made the opposite choice on the night of the Met Gala, and was seen courtside during the game as his girlfriend Kylie Jenner appeared solo at the museum event.

"The irony was, I said to Christine, 'I hope Timothée is also going to the Met Gala,' and of course he wasn't," he remembered.

"I don't get invited to the Met Gala," Stiler added. "Timothée gets invited to the Met Gala every year. The last time I was invited was 10 years ago, by the same friend who bought the table, and we went with him 10 years ago. And then we went with him once before like 20 years ago. I'm not that guy!"

Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.

Stiller and Chalamet both sat courtside at game 2 of the series on Wednesday. Others in attendance included Flavor Flav, Jason Bateman, Sam Rockwell, Tracy Morgan, Natalia Dyer, Fat Joe, Matt Dillon, and Ethan Slater.

on Entertainment Weekly

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”