Artist claims AOC’s ‘tax the rich’ Met Gala dress was a knock-off

A California artist and designer claimed Wednesday that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s provocative Met Gala dress was a ripoff of her work.

The street artist known as the Velvet Bandit posted a comparison of AOC’s dress, which featured the phrase “tax the rich” scrawled in red letter, and her own design, which also features the phrase drawn in a similar font and color on a facemask worn by Abe Lincoln.

“Look familiar?,” The Velvet Bandit wrote on Instagram Wednesday. “@aoc stepped out at the Met Gala wearing a dress designed by @aurorajames that looks hella similar to my design.”

“All of my pasteups are handpainted, and after my Tax the Rich I put up in Sausalito went viral on Tiktok, I began selling stickers and shirts. And low and behold, this dress bears the same likeness as my handwriting.”

The Velvet Bandit didn’t seem particularly upset however, noting that she is a fan of both the Democrat and the designer, Aurora James, who was Ocasio-Cortez’s plus-one to Monday’s Upper East Side event.

“I admire both of these women greatly, and I would love nothing more than to collaborate with them in some way,” the self-described “full-time lunch lady and single mom” continued.

The artist asked her followers to tag the pol and designer, saying, “they need a female street artist working on their team.”

AOC caught heat from critics for attending the $35,000-a-ticket “Fashion Oscars” while wearing the polarizing message earlier this week. The Democratic rep later said she was comped by the museum, sparking a conservative group to call for a Congressional ethics probe.

AOC was also lampooned for touting James, 36, as a “Black woman immigrant designer” who got her fashion start at a NYC flea market, after it was revealed that the couturier grew up in a wealthy Toronto suburb.

Neither the congresswoman nor James’ Brooklyn store Brother Vellies immediately returned The Post’s request for comment.