Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez Venice marriage ceremony prompts protests : NPR

Activists in Venice, Italy, are protesting the upcoming vacation spot marriage ceremony of tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez, as stories of the occasion’s excessive extravagance divide the town.

Bezos — the Amazon founder and Washington Submit proprietor — is among the world’s richest males, with an estimated web value of $231 billion in keeping with Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. He and Sánchez — a former information anchor and licensed pilot — acquired engaged in 2023, 4 years after going public with their relationship.

Their nuptials have been the topic of hypothesis and intense secrecy ever since.

After getting back from the transient — and broadly panned — all-female spaceflight she organized on one among Bezos’ Blue Origin rockets in April, Sánchez quipped that she needed to make it again safely for her marriage ceremony, in any other case “that may be a bummer for me.”

Sánchez’s brother Paul has in contrast it to the 1981 royal marriage ceremony of Prince Charles and Girl Diana Spencer, telling TMZ in March, “I feel it is gonna be like a Princess Di factor.”

Whereas exact particulars in regards to the marriage ceremony stay underneath wraps, Italian media and international newswires report it will likely be held in Venice in late June. Reviews of a multiday, multimillion-dollar affair — is anticipated to attract tons of of celebrants to a fragile lagoon metropolis already grappling with overtourism — sparked issues in Italy.

In March, the metropolis of Venice denied media stories that marriage ceremony organizers had reserved giant numbers of gondolas and water taxis for the occasion, which had fueled fears of disruptions for the vacationers and locals who use them for each day transport.

Venetian officers mentioned there can be solely 200 friends, an simply accommodated quantity for a metropolis used to internet hosting all types of political summits, cultural occasions and VIP weddings (together with George and Amal Clooney’s in 2014).

“We’re mutually working and supporting the organizers, to make sure that the occasion will likely be completely respectful of the fragility and uniqueness of the town,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro mentioned, in keeping with the Related Press.

However that hasn’t stopped protesters from making their disapproval recognized. Activists uniting underneath the “No House for Bezos” motion — nodding to the {couples}’ spacefaring pursuits — have taken subject with what they name the privatization of their metropolis and the native authorities’s perceived prioritization of tourism over the wants of its residents.

All through the month, protesters have hung anti-Bezos posters and banners on varied areas throughout the town, together with the bell tower of the San Giorgio Maggiore basilica and the well-known Rialto Bridge. On Monday, activists from Greenpeace Italy and the U.Okay. group “Everybody Hates Elon [Musk]” joined the motion, Reuters stories.

They hung a banner in St. Mark’s Sq., with an image of Bezos laughing and the phrases: “For those who can hire Venice in your marriage ceremony you possibly can pay extra tax.”

Lanza & Baucina Restricted, the organizers of the Bezos-Sánchez marriage ceremony, have launched a uncommon assertion in search of to set the file straight about “rumours of ‘taking up’ the town,” calling them “completely false and diametrically against our objectives and to actuality.”

It mentioned “no exaggerated amount” of water taxis or gondolas have been booked, and the variety of taxis reserved is “proportionate for the variety of friends.”

“From the outset, directions from our consumer and our personal guiding ideas have been abundantly clear: the minimising of any disruption to the town, the respect for its residents and establishments and the overwhelming employment of locals within the crafting of the occasions,” the agency advised NPR in a press release on Monday.

When requested for remark, an Amazon spokesperson referred NPR to the organizers’ assertion.

This is what else we all know — and nonetheless do not — in regards to the marriage ceremony and the protests in opposition to it.

The place and when is the marriage? 

Most stories say the marriage celebrations will span three days, however the actual dates differ.

Reuters and others say the window is probably going June 26-28, whereas the AP — citing Italian media — beforehand reported it may very well be June 24-26.

There have been equally conflicting stories in regards to the ceremony’s whereabouts.

A spokesperson for Brugnaro, Venice’s mayor, advised CNN in March that it might happen on Bezos’ 417-foot superyacht, the Koru. The ship has made headlines earlier than: In 2022, the Dutch metropolis of Rotterdam thought of quickly dismantling a historic bridge to permit the Koru to depart the shipyard the place it was constructed — however reversed course after residents protested, together with threatening to egg it.

However different shops, together with CNN and The Hollywood Reporter, report that the couple could get married on the non-public island of San Giorgio Maggiore, particularly in a monastery there.

The “No House for Bezos” activists, in the meantime, say the marriage is meant to happen within the 14th-century Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a faculty armory-turned-event venue, in keeping with EuroNews and CNN. The protesters are hoping that will not occur.

“Bezos won’t ever get to the Misericordia,” organizer Federica Toninello advised supporters at a protest earlier this month, per CNN. “We’ll block the canals, line the streets with our our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats.”

Why are folks protesting? 

Locals against the marriage festivities have a number of issues, starting from logistical disruptions to environmental impacts of a sudden inflow of yachts and personal jets.

“Bezos is principally going to deal with the entire metropolis as a non-public ballroom, as a non-public occasion space, as if the residents aren’t there,” protester Alice Bazzoli advised Sky Information.

The island metropolis is actively sinking on account of rising sea ranges and mass tourism. In an effort to curb the latter, it now requires day-trippers over the age of 14 to pay a each day tax on sure days (both 5 or 10 euros relying on timing) to go to its 2.5 square-mile historic metropolis middle.

The large inflow of vacationers has worsened the housing disaster, as many residential buildings have been transformed into short-term leases, and led to a drop within the inhabitants as many residents strive their luck elsewhere.

It is in opposition to this backdrop that Bezos and Sánchez are arriving for his or her marriage ceremony, which regional governor Luca Zaia has mentioned is anticipated to price the equal of $23-$34 million. Whereas Zaia says that may give a much-needed enhance to the native economic system, folks protesting the occasion fear they will not personally expertise the advantages of that cash.

“Venice (like in all places) wants public providers and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism,” Greenpeace UK mentioned on Bluesky. ” It is time to #TaxTheSuperRich and make them pay for the destruction they trigger – the world will not be their playground.”

What has the response been to protests? 

Venice’s mayor, Brugnaro, advised reporters Friday that he was ashamed of the protesters, saying “we should apologize to Bezos.”

“I hope that Bezos comes anyway,” he mentioned. “Not all Venetians suppose like these protesters.”

The marriage organizers, Lanza & Baucina Restricted, mentioned of their assertion that since earlier than the protests broke out, it had “labored for there to be minimal adverse affect or disruption to the lives of Venetians and the town’s guests.”

“We’ve got at all times acknowledged the broader debate and important points surrounding the town’s future, and from the outset our consumer has been honoured to help the town and its all-important lagoon by way of non-profit organisations and related tasks,” the corporate added.

Bezos has made sizable contributions to Venetian charities within the lead-up to the marriage, together with a million-euro donation to Corila, a tutorial consortium that research Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, Reuters stories. Based on the AP, Corila confirmed over the weekend that Bezos’ Earth Fund had made an “necessary donation” again in April, effectively earlier than protests began.

The AP stories that at the very least two historic Venetian corporations will contribute to the festivities: Rosa Salva, the town’s oldest pastry maker, and Laguna B, a design studio well-known for its distinctive, handmade Murano glassware.

Antonio Rosa Salva, the sixth technology in his household to run the bakery, mentioned he will likely be supplying a choice of treats for friends’ goody baggage — and welcomes the respect.

“I do not see how an occasion with 200 folks can create disruptions,” he advised the AP. “It is prestigious {that a} couple like this, who can go wherever on this planet, are getting married within the metropolis.”