Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are formally married.
The Amazon billionaire and former TV anchor tied the knot Friday in a lavish celebration in Venice, Italy.
The three-day, $10 million extravaganza reportedly took over the entire island of San Giorgio Maggiore, reverse Venice’s historic St. Mark’s Sq., with a visitor record that boasted Oprah, Invoice Gates, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Karlie Kloss, Ivanka Trump, Orlando Bloom, Jewel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg.
The couple hosted A-list attendees in closely booked accommodations throughout the town, together with on the Aman, the place George and Amal Clooney tied the knot in 2014; Gritti Palace; The St. Regis; Resort Danieli; and Belmond Cipriani. Vogue boss Anna Wintour reportedly helped Sánchez choose her gown for the ceremony, and phrase unfold that Elton John was requested to carry out.
It’s onerous to anticipate any much less from Bezos, one of many world’s richest males (valued at $233 billion), whose marriage ceremony planners have commandeered most of the metropolis’s sources. However a portion of Venice natives weren’t so welcoming. Blocked streets and boat reroutes prompted a bunch of them to make their emotions identified.
Banners studying, “In the event you can hire Venice on your marriage ceremony, you may pay extra tax,” and, “No House for Bezos” — referencing the American businessman’s cosmic aspirations together with his space-travel agency Blue Origin — had been displayed in Venice forward of the nuptials. In the meantime, different protesters threatened to fill the canals with inflatables, dinghies and boats to hinder Bezos’ water taxis. Graffiti and stickers plastered on partitions remarked: “Veniceland: A playground match for an oligarch.”
Greenpeace Italy and U.Ok.-based group Everybody Hates Elon, which The Hollywood Reporter lately spoke to about their billionaire-bashing efforts, joined in by unveiling the aforementioned tax-angled message on a 400-square-meter banner in the midst of St. Mark’s Sq. on Monday. It was swiftly eliminated by police. In line with a 2021 ProPublica report based mostly on IRS knowledge, in 2007 and once more in 2011, Bezos managed to pay nothing in federal revenue tax, and his tax price from 2014 to 2018 was estimated to be simply 0.98 %.
Chief among the many issues are Venice’s already-overcrowded streets, worsened by the fixed inflow of vacationers, and local weather change contributing to a sinking metropolis. “Bezos’ marriage ceremony is an emblem of utmost wealth, privilege and loads of issues which can be going fallacious at present on the earth,” stated Greenpeace campaigner Clara Thompson, who added that the marriage came about in “one of many world’s most climate-vulnerable cities.”
Amongst Amazon’s largest critics are local weather activists who denounce the corporate’s carbon emissions, packaging waste and reported destruction of unsold goods.
The pop-up protests appeared to have labored: The BBC reported on Tuesday {that a} native official confirmed that the marriage celebrations, set to happen on the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, would happen as a substitute on the Arsenale, farther from the town middle.
Nonetheless, the now-married couple reportedly quietly donated to Venetian charities in April and sourced 80 % of their marriage ceremony provisions from native distributors.
On Monday, Luca Zaia, president of the encircling Veneto area, introduced a 1 million euro ($1.16 million) donation by Bezos and Sánchez to the Corila Consortium, a global scientific analysis group doing work on the Venice lagoon, in line with CNN. “The beneficiant donation by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez represents an act of nice sensitivity and foresight,” Zaia stated. “Venice isn’t solely a symbolic metropolis of Veneto and Italy, it’s a heritage of humanity that calls for consideration, respect and care.”
Conservative Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who has run Venice for 10 years, condemned the protests. “Whoever loves Venice will at all times be welcome,” he stated, whereas different metropolis officers promised “the celebrations, attended by 250 friends, will mix into the each day rhythm of the town.”
Bezos’ marriage ceremony planners from the London-based Lanza & Baucina occasions firm stated in a press release to Page Six that that they had been actively working to keep away from adverse results on the town. “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 honored to assist the town and its all-important lagoon via non-profit organizations and related tasks,” the corporate stated.