Ben Stiller Explains Missing Knicks for Met Gala

Ben Stiller had a confession to make. The night before the 2026 Met Gala, with the Knicks about to tip off their second-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden, he turned to his wife Christine Taylor and said: “I think I’m gonna get some sh** for this.”

He was right.

The Zoolander star’s decision to attend fashion’s biggest night instead of Game 1 of the Knicks-76ers series set off a minor firestorm online. “Ben Stiller chose Met Gala over the Knicks vs Sixers?? hell must’ve froze over,” one fan posted on X. “Yeah you gotta drop him on the Knicks fan power rankings. Met Gala over playoffs?? Fake fan,” another piled on. And then there was the matter of Timothée Chalamet — a fellow Knicks superfan who made the opposite call, skipping the Met Gala entirely to sit courtside while his girlfriend Kylie Jenner attended the event solo. The internet noticed.

Stiller finally broke his silence on The Pat McAfee Show Thursday, walking through exactly how he ended up in this mess — and it turns out the answer is pretty simple: he didn’t want to be a bad friend.

“It was a tough one for me,” Stiller told McAfee. “As a fan, I wanted to be at that Knicks game more than anything.” A close friend had secured a table at the Met Gala and invited him and Taylor back in January — three months before the playoff schedule was even set. “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… 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.”

Taylor confirmed as much when she spoke to Page Six at a Cinema Society screening of Influenced earlier this week. “We were invited by a friend, so this was an obligation we had committed to in January,” she said. “He was holding true to showing up for friends. It really was for these dear friends who invited us.”

The night before, Stiller was still on the fence. He told Christine he was thinking about canceling at the last minute. Her response was decisive: “Look, we have to do it. It’s our friend. We made this commitment. There’s nothing to do.” And that was that.

Knicks Colors on the Red Carpet — and a Phone Hidden Inside

If Stiller had to be at the Met Gala, he was going to make sure everyone knew where his heart was. He wore an orange tie to match the Knicks’ signature color, while Taylor showed up in a royal blue gown by designer Bibhu Mohapatra. Walking into the event, he flashed six fingers for “Knicks in six” — and on the red carpet, he told USA Today exactly what was on his mind. “Right now, I wish I was in Madison Square Garden,” he admitted. “But if you can’t be at Madison Square Garden watching the Knicks… this is a great second choice.”

He also found a way to follow the game — even if it meant bending the rules a little. “Anna Wintour doesn’t like it when people are watching their phones at the Met Gala,” Stiller said on McAfee’s show. “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.”

Taylor said the score actually helped them relax once they got the update. “Here’s what was great — he could wear his Knicks orange, I happened to be wearing blue, and once we learned what the score was, we could relax and enjoy the night.” The Knicks had demolished the 76ers 137-98, making the fashion crowd a slightly easier place to be.

There were genuine highlights too. During the cocktail hour, the couple ended up in a ten-minute conversation with Stevie Nicks — in her top hat — who, as it turned out, had just watched There’s Something About Mary. “She really wanted to talk to him about that,” Taylor laughed, “how hilarious she thought it was. He was really honored.”

The Chalamet Factor

The comparison to Timothée Chalamet became unavoidable — and Stiller addressed it directly. He’d actually hoped they’d both end up at the Met Gala. “The irony was, I said to Christine, ‘I hope Timothée is also going to the Met Gala,’” he recalled. “And of course he wasn’t.”

But Stiller was quick to explain why the choice was genuinely easier for Chalamet than it was for him. “I don’t get invited to the Met Gala,” he said plainly. “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 then we went with him once before, like 20 years ago. I’m not that guy.”

Chalamet, for his part, traveled to Philadelphia with a crew of celebrity Knicks faithful — including Spike Lee, Tracy Morgan, and Ben Stiller himself — for Game 3, with Kylie Jenner again in attendance. Former Knicks legends Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Walt Frazier, and Allan Houston were also in the building in Philly, despite the 76ers’ efforts to limit ticket sales to local residents after Joel Embiid publicly pleaded with fans not to sell to New Yorkers.

Back Where He Belongs

The redemption arc was swift. Stiller returned to MSG for Game 2 on Wednesday in a black Knicks hoodie — a far cry from the orange tie — and was reportedly greeted with cheers when he took his seat. Chalamet and Jenner were a few seats away. Jay-Z showed up and posed for photos with Walt Frazier. Jason Bateman and Sam Rockwell were spotted chatting courtside. The Knicks won 108-102 to go up 2-0 in the series.

On Tuesday, between games, Chalamet had posted a video of himself draining a three-pointer on the MSG court, prompting the official Knicks account to reply in the comments: “check your dms we just sent you a 10-day” — jokingly offering him a contract.

Stiller’s broader point, made with genuine feeling on McAfee’s show, was that this wasn’t some casual fan blowing off a big game. He’s spent the last year deliberately restructuring his professional schedule around the Knicks. “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 Finals run could possibly happen — that I’m making sure that I’m gonna be there.”

The Knicks, now up 2-0 and two wins away from back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals appearances, are the betting favorites to end a 26-year NBA Finals drought. Stiller has made clear he intends to be courtside for all of it.

“It’s been a really interesting experience,” he said, “because I didn’t think anybody really would care that much about whether or not I was there.”

They cared, Ben. They really cared.