“People are starving”: Activists float Jeff Bezos dummy in Venice Canal amid outrage over $76 million wedding
Video of a Jeff Bezos dummy floating in a Venice canal spread on social media ahead of his upcoming wedding to journalist Lauren Sánchez. The billionaire likeness represented a local protest against over-tourism and massive wealth disparities that allowed the Amazon founder to rent out an entire Venetian island for his nuptials.
This dummy isn't the only one of its kind to appear in the Italian city.
Jeff Bezos dummies and other protests
The video, originally posted by @gbnews to TikTok on Wednesday, showed activists slipping the Jeff Bezos dummy into the canal as he clung to an Amazon package with fistfuls of cash in each hand. Passengers on a tourist boat filmed as it passed by.
@gbnews Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, is facing continued problems ahead of his wedding in Venice as protests continue in the Italian city. Activists floated a dummy of the entrepreneur in their famous canal as residents and tourists looked on from the Rialto Bridge. Reports suggest the wedding has been forced to change location as a result of the unrest from the locals. #JeffBezos #Amazon #Venice #Italy #WorldNews #GBNews ♬ original sound - GB News
The video quickly gained over 1.9 million views on TikTok and spread to X hours later.
This is just one of a collection of protests in Venice against Bezos ahead of a three-day wedding event expected to cost between $64 and $76 million. The couple has already changed the venue due to this response and attempted to keep the new one a secret, but CNN reports that the location is likely the island of San Giorgio Maggiore.
Protests included a giant banner laid out to greet Bezos' private jet featuring the billionaire's laughing face with a bold message.
"If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax."
Additionally, another Bezos dummy was spotted in the Grand Canal on Tuesday alongside a mannequin of his fiancée. The pair rode in a classic gondola dressed in wedding attire. The group responsible for this display, Konn Artiss, reportedly also came up with the golden Bezos covered in dollar bills in St. Mark’s Square.
It's unclear who is responsible for the lone Bezos dummy that floated today, but the collective protests are making the locals' feelings quite clear.
"People are finally realizing how corrupt billionaires are"
On both TikTok and X, opinions split between those who feel Bezos deserves the hate and those who think the haters are just jealous. Commenters on the @gbnews video were particularly argumentative.
"People are finally realizing how corrupt billionaires are and not tolerating it," wrote @locanananm in a top comment.
"So then spend your life building your own company and if it becomes successful you can manage it and do whatever you want with it," @tom846083 replied. "Everyone cries about Amazon yet thousands voluntarily work there if it’s so terrible then work somewhere else."
Whether being so poor and desperate that you turn to a body-breaking warehouse job counts as "voluntary" has long been a subject of debate.
Meanwhile, on X, some didn't understand why Venetians are so upset.
"I don’t get it, why are they against him spending his money in their city?" asked @Supertanker2020.
"Seriously!?! Did someone drop you on your head?" asked @DavidsDonna. "People are starving. People are homeless all over the world & this a** is spending billions on a wedding. Remember, he sucks people dry of money treats his workers like sh*t."
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