Greenpeace and the U.K.-based collective Everyone Hates Elon have joined protests in Venice attempting to disrupt, or even prevent, the planned wedding celebrations of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Emmy-winning journalist, pilot and entrepreneur Lauren Sánchez this week.
On Monday, the two groups unfurled a giant banner in the lagoon city’s iconic St. Mark’s Square that reads: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.”
“Jeff Bezos is the second-richest man in the world yet is reported to pay a 1.1% true tax rate,” the two groups said in a joint statement. “The multi-million-dollar wedding is reportedly happening over three days, with the wedding ring alone worth as much as $5 million.”
A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon said: “As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married.”
As anticipated by Variety in April, preparations for the three-day nuptial festivities – reportedly expected to take place June 26-28 – have been raising the hackles of activists who claim that Venice is becoming a playground for the rich to the detriment of its inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have spoken out in favor of the nuptials, which have been dubbed “the wedding of the century,” pointing out that the celebrations are expected to bring €20-30 million ($23-34 million) to local businesses.
“This is a city that handles 150,000 people a day,” Zaia told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “George Clooney, François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, Alexandre Arnault, Elton John and many others got married here.”
Bezos has also pledged to make sizable charity donations, including €1 million to Corila — an academic consortium dedicated to studying Venice’s lagoon ecosystem — according to Corriere della Sera and Italy’s ANSA news agency.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung in Venice from St. Mark’s Tower with “Bezos” in blue capital letters and a red X over it as part of a “No Space for Bezos” campaign, a playon Bezos’ Blue Origin spaceflight venture.
Roughly 200 guests have been reportedly invited to the Bezos-Sánchez wedding, including Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Katy Perry, and Eva Longoria, Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger and Ivanka Trump.
