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"Whistleblower" At The Met Says Museum Used Guards To Enforce Payment
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Mar 21, 2013
Modified Mar 21, 2013
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published Mar 21, 2013
Modified Mar 21, 2013
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As the Metropolitan Museum of Art grapples with a $40 million lawsuit against its policy of intimidating the nice families with expensive cameras into paying stiff admission fees, a former museum employee says that he was personally charged with making sure guards did that scary neck-cracking thing whenever people attempted to enter without paying. “I arranged for security officers to forcibly remove the museum visitors who demanded entry without paying,” the Hero to the Common Man told the Post. “Their attitude toward the public is the public is a cash cow."
The former supervisor, who holds degrees from Yale and Fordham, said that employees "are trained and instructed to pressure and embarrass visitors into paying the stated admission fee" of $25 per person ("free" if you pay the Met money). Presumably they were also ordered to say "Personwhodoesn'tknowwhatFauvismissayswhat?" when they hand over those little flimsy buttons.
We have a pretty good idea of who the Post's source is, and have asked him to recount memorable episodes of ejection and for his idea of what a sensible admission policy would be. If the Secret Aesthetic Police haven't silenced him, we'll update when we hear back.
The Met continues to deny that they're doing anything wrong. Attorney for the plaintiffs, Michael Hiller, said the museum "was started as a public institution to bring art to the masses. What it has become is an elite tourist attraction that is really counter to its original purpose."
Tagged
freedom
metropolitan museum of art
the met
tourism
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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