Weddings are essentially about two people, but in the case of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his helicopter-flying fiancée Lauren Sánchez, their upcoming ceremony has become a topic of discussion, dispute, and dilemma involving far more people than ideal. From protesters, followers, and politicians to activists, everyone seems to have something to say, even when they are not remotely connected to the nuptials.
In the latest twist, Greenpeace and the U.K.-based collective Everyone Hates Elon have joined protests in Venice, behaving like disgruntled guests with no motive other than to prevent the planned three-day wedding celebrations of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Emmy-winning journalist Lauren Sánchez, scheduled for this week.
The protesters’ modus operandi was not very different from what had been witnessed earlier. After staging last week’s “No Space for Bezos” demonstration, the two groups unfurled a giant banner in the lagoon city’s iconic St. Mark’s Square on Monday that read, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.” While defending their action, the groups argued that the tech tycoon is the third-richest man in the world yet is reported to pay an effective tax rate of just 1.1 percent. “The multi-million-dollar wedding is reportedly happening over three days, with the wedding ring alone worth as much as $5 million,” they said in a joint statement.
In my opinion, protests timed to coincide with the wedding of one of the world’s richest self-made men are not entirely valid. There is a time to donate and a time to celebrate, and the billionaire does both. Bezos in all probability, to pacify the locals, made sizable charity donations, including $1 million for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem.
The wedding comes at the height of tourism season in the fragile city that has long been overrun with visitors. Still, activists maintain that the festivities exemplify broader failures in municipal governance, particularly the prioritization of tourism over residents’ needs.
It is worth noting that similar concerns were not raised when Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin in a star-studded Venetian ceremony in 2014.
Greenpeace frequently targets the comparatively low taxes paid by some billionaires while highlighting how their extravagant lifestyles exacerbate the climate crisis, this time however, they didn’t create any hue and cry on the Koru yacht. Meanwhile, Italian and Venetian officials, on the other hand, have strongly criticized the latest protests and welcomed the Bezos-Sánchez nuptials.
