Singer Dionne Warwick called out Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Twitter on July 21 for thanking his workers and customers for funding his trip to space, BET reported. Bezos made the statement during a press conference.
Bezos said in the press conference that Amazon employees and customers funded his space trip.
The statement raised eyebrows as he was accused of not paying his workers a livable wage. He also has a net worth of more than $209 billion dollars, according to Forbes.
“I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this,” said Bezos.
Warwick wondered why Bezos would make such a dumb statement.
“Why did he make a truly dumb statement like this? I don’t get what he expected from those employed at Amazon! I know it couldn’t have been a YAY!! Shame on you, Mr. Bezos…?,” Warwick wrote.
Why did he make a truly dumb statement like this? I don’t get what he expected from those employed at Amazon! I know it couldn’t have been a YAY!! Shame on you, Mr. Bezos… ? pic.twitter.com/Y2oLUMOaEl
— Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) July 21, 2021
Twitter agreed with Warwick.
Jeff Bezos is using his time to go out and zoom around outer space. Good for him. Poll after poll shows the American people want him to pay his fair share of taxes back here on Earth.
Let’s get it done.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 22, 2021
I love when auntie gets spicy ? pic.twitter.com/jCSDA8RUJ9
— ?Openly Black? (@KellyChavers) July 21, 2021
This truly makes you tilt ones head and say wish you could stayed up there in space!!!
— Carolyn Mays (@53mazzeeMays) July 22, 2021
Just flaunting his privilege, and bragging to those who work for him that they foot the bill for it knowing their working conditions are not the best. I would have quit at that moment if I saw this statement while on the clock.
— Robbie Redford (@TheOnlyRSJ) July 22, 2021
My face after his comment pic.twitter.com/JTIUu8acUO
— Author Toni Chevelle (@tonichevelle) July 22, 2021
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The former exec flew to space on July 20, according to the Associated Press.
The Amazon founder is also the owner of Blue Origin, a private aerospace manufacturer. Bezos flew to space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket along with his brother and 82-year-old Wally Funk. Funk was one of the few women who completed the astronaut training program in the 1960s, per Reuters.
Also on board was Oliver Daemen, 18, who was selected to replace the anonymous person who paid $28 million for the only ticket Bezos sold for the space flight. The flight lasted for ten minutes.
Billionaire Richard Branson beat Bezos to space nine days earlier with a rocket made by his spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic. Prior to Bezos and Branson, astronauts employed by the U.S. federal government’s space program agency, NASA, were the only Americans able to travel to space.
The That’s What Friends Are For singer will be going a tour beginning this October.
