Jeff Bezos blasted for ‘phallic’ rocket flight into space on Blue Origin

Money tin bargain you a circular travel to the borderline of space, but it can’t bargain you respect connected the net — oregon admiration from the customers and low-income workers who made your imagination possible.

Amazon laminitis Jeff Bezos launched himself to the bound of abstraction aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket connected Tuesday, with his member Mark, abstraction pioneer Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen, a banker’s son, joining him for the ride.

Bezos spent conscionable implicit 10 minutes successful the heavens earlier coming backmost down to Earth, wherever helium was already being criticized and mocked connected societal media for the extravagant show of his idiosyncratic wealth.

Some radical called him a space cowboy. Some radical called him the supervillain Lex Luthor. Some radical conscionable called him a affluent feline who rode a giant metallic phallus into space.

“The world’s richest antheral went connected a 10-minute abstraction thrust successful a penis-shaped rocket,” writer Daniel Kibblesmith tweeted afterward. “We don’t request metaphors anymore.”

More than 185,000 radical besides signed a Change.org petition to barroom Bezos from returning to Earth. “Billionaires should not beryllium … connected earth, oregon successful space,” the petition poster wrote. “But should they determine the latter, they should enactment there.”

Critics besides accused Bezos of saying the quiescent portion retired large astatine a post-flight quality conference, erstwhile helium credited his customers and employees for making him the richest antheral successful the satellite — a antheral susceptible of buying his ain rocket to alert into space.

“I besides privation to convey each Amazon worker and each Amazon lawsuit due to the fact that you guys paid for each of this,” Bezos said.

Amazon has enjoyed tremendous growth successful caller years, peculiarly since the opening of the pandemic. That maturation helped Bezos go the wealthiest antheral successful the world, adjacent aft losing immoderate of that currency successful his divorcement with MacKenzie Scott.

Amazon has besides been plagued by accusations that it underpays its workers and crushes their attempts to unionize, portion besides utilizing analyzable manoeuvres to avoid large taxation payments.

“Amazon workers don’t request Bezos to convey them. They request him to halt national busting — and wage them what they deserve,” Robert Reich, the erstwhile U.S. caput of labour nether Bill Clinton, tweeted connected Tuesday. “Who other thinks Bezos should wage his just stock of taxes earlier thanking Amazon customers for backing his joyousness thrust to space?”

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Other politicians voiced akin opinions.

“Space question isn’t a tax-free vacation for the wealthy,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, tweeted successful effect to the stunt. “We wage taxes connected level tickets,” Blumenauer wrote. “Billionaires flying into abstraction — producing nary technological worth — should bash the same, and past some!”

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat from New York, pointed retired that the median worker income astatine Amazon is astir $29,000 a year.

“While Jeff Bezos is each implicit the quality for paying to spell to space, let’s not hide the world helium has created present connected Earth,” she wrote.

Many others piled connected to telephone it a discarded of wealth that could person been spent connected warring clime alteration oregon helping the poor, alternatively than pouring it into a billionaire rocket-measuring contention with Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic). Branson went into abstraction a fewer days earlier Bezos.

Colleen Farrell, a doc and aesculapian morals expert, framed the motorboat arsenic a cleanable illustration of the world’s problems.

“If everything that is incorrect with the satellite needed to beryllium summed up successful a azygous metaphor, I deliberation it would beryllium Jeff Bezos spending billions for a 10 infinitesimal thrust connected his phallic rocket portion the satellite burns and his workers are not fixed capable wealth to unrecorded oregon clip to usage the toilet,” she wrote connected Twitter.

“Penis rocket” jokes took disconnected connected Twitter, with galore comparing Blue Origin’s New Shepard trade to the phallic rocket utilized by Dr. Evil successful the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. A country successful the movie shows radical pointing to the a phallic rocket and utilizing euphemisms for a penis.

“I can’t judge Bezos didn’t motorboat his penis rocket connected Hump Day,” societal media property @JoJofromJerz wrote connected Twitter Wednesday.

“Reliable sources archer maine that Bezos says this is ‘Just the Tip’ of backstage abstraction exploration,” Donald Trump Jr. quipped aft the flight, successful a veiled intersexual reference.

All rockets are cylindrically shaped, but Bezos’ New Shepard ignited phallic comparisons with its blunted and somewhat bulbous capsule, which sits similar a helmet atop the much constrictive booster. The booster besides has fins that instrumentality retired to either broadside erstwhile seen successful profile.

The big tract CamSoda capitalized connected the rocket plan to denote its ain enactment of “billionaire abstraction race”-themed enactment toys, featuring objects shaped similar the Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic craft.

“Nice,” Musk tweeted successful effect to the Blue Origin enactment artifact connected Tuesday, aft congratulating Bezos connected the flight.

Branson besides congratulated Bezos without making immoderate “Richard” jokes astir the rocket.

—With files from The Associated Press