Why Jeff Bezos' Comments After His Trip To Space Have Twitter Seeing Red

Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you're well aware that there's a billionaire space race that's been making headlines across the globe. Involving two middle-to-old-aged white dudes with enough money to take care of a plethora of world problems, but instead deciding to live out their childhood dreams of playing astronaut, the billionaire race for space is just as ridiculous as it sounds. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, rocketed into space earlier in July (via CNN), and less than two weeks later, Amazon founder and one of the richest people in the world, Jeff Bezos, followed suit by launching himself and a small crew into space in a very phallic looking rocket ship made by his space flight company, Blue Origin (via New York Post).

"The atmosphere is so big. But when you get up above it, you see it's this tiny little fragile thing. That's very profound. It's one thing to recognize that intellectually. It's another thing to actually see with your own eyes how fragile it really is and that was amazing," Bezos, clad in a blue astronaut suit and cowboy hat, said after his space flight. "My expectations were high and they were dramatically exceeded. It felt almost like we were as humans evolved to be in that environment which I know is impossible." Despite his poetic words, Bezos wasn't met with a ton of support back here on Earth after his flight (not that anyone is surprised). 

In addition to describing his majestic space flight, Jeff Bezos thanked Amazon employees and customers for "paying for" his flight, saying, "I ... want to thank every Amazon employee, and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there, and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It's very appreciated." Not exactly what we had in mind when we dropped money on Amazon for the TikTok leggings everyone told us we needed to have. 

Bezos' comments did not sit well with social media users for a variety of reasons, as many pointed out the fact that Amazon warehouse conditions are absolutely atrocious and the company treats their workers poorly (via The Guardian). Others addressed the fact that Bezos has enough money to end poverty, homelessness, and more in the United States and other countries, as well as the fact that Bezos has avoided paying federal income taxes, all while increasing his net worth by billions — especially during the pandemic (via Business Insider).

"Jeff Bezos could end homelessness in this country and still have more money than he could ever hope to spend. But going to space and not paying taxes is nice too," Walter Shaub, a senior fellow at the Project On Government Oversight, tweeted, while journalist Ben Norton wrote, "Dystopian $200-billionaire sci-fi villain mega-oligarch Jeff Bezos accidentally acknowledges the surplus value of labor, laughing that the wealth he ruthlessly extracted from Amazon employees paid for him to take his pointless ego trip to space."

Social media users still can't stop talking about Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space flight and his comments about Amazon customers and employees funding the trip, with one Twitter user writing in disbelief, "When I first saw that quote I thought it was a joke. Do you think his employees like sacrificing decent working conditions, like bathroom breaks, and better wages just so he can have his thrill ride in space. A boss like that is the worst kind of boss," while another posted a screenshot of their dad's text about Bezos, which read, "That p**ck Bezos really annoys me. The cheek of him thanking staff and purchasers for making it possible. All those rich b*****ds could be doing so much more for the planet and its population. They make me sick sick sick."

Another Twitter user pointed out that Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott — whose estimated net worth is around $60 billion (via NPR) — has been using her money for the greater good, writing, "Sure Jeff Bezos got shot into almost space on a d**k rocket, but MacKenzie Scott donated $5.8 billion to the COVID crisis and $4.1 billion to schools for Black, brown, and indigenous people. Jeff can stay in space. We got the one we need here already." For all the excitement that Bezos expressed over his trip to space, we don't think he should be planning for a warm welcome back to Earth.