Putting his foot forward in the space race, world's richest man Jeff Bezos finished an 11-minute spaceflight aboard his company Blue Origin's rocket and thanked all Amazon employees and customers for it, for which he received massive backlash online.
"I also 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," Bezos, dressed in a blue space suit and a cowboy hat, said during a press conference after the flight.
Many on Twitter were not impressed as comments pointed out that Amazon employees across the world had been complaining of dangerous working conditions and unfair pay.
US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit out at Bezos on Twitter, saying that the workers paid for this with "lower wages, union busting, a frenzied and inhumane workplace".
Yes, Amazon workers did pay for this - with lower wages, union busting, a frenzied and inhumane workplace, and delivery drivers not having health insurance during a pandemic.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 20, 2021
And Amazon customers are paying for it with Amazon abusing their market power to hurt small business. https://t.co/7qMgpe8u0M
US Senator Elizabeth Warren also slammed Bezos and said he should've thanked all the "hardworking Americans who actually paid taxes", taunting the billionaire for not paying taxes.
Jeff Bezos forgot to thank all the hardworking Americans who actually paid taxes to keep this country running while he and Amazon paid nothing. https://t.co/tjOeCWbUA8
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 20, 2021
Many pointed out the insensitivity of Bezos' comments on Twitter.
Tone deaf doesn’t begin to describe this @JeffBezos quote.
— Nick Knudsen 🇺🇸 (@NickKnudsenUS) July 21, 2021
I’m sure your workers who get blocked from unionizing at every turn are just giddy with excitement about your neato field trip to outer space that they subsidized. https://t.co/pmgCUIp7kp
(Narrator whispers)… paid with underpaid labor in sweatshop conditions all while you didn’t pay much taxes.
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) July 20, 2021
So, would Jeff Bezos, from now on, ensure that every employee of Amazon gets affordable healthcare insurance, livable wage, 401K, Bonus, family leave, etc? An annual cost of these highly needed benefits, would not make a dent on the company’s bottom line not on Mr. Bezo’s wealth.
— Save u&us (@joseph4represe1) July 20, 2021
Yeah, they peed in a jar in desperation so that he could pay several billion 💵 to go in space and pee in a jar for sport.
— Gloria Johnson (@VoteGloriaJ) July 20, 2021
Check out DH's latest videos: