Protestors Push Jeff Bezos Dummy, Clutching an Amazon Box and Fistfuls of Cash, Into Venice Canal amid Wedding Protests
Protestors continue to speak out against Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's upcoming Venice wedding
On June 25, protestors placed a dummy of Bezos floating on an Amazon box raft in a Venice canal
Bezos and Sánchez have a series of events planned for their star-studded Venetian wedding celebrationJeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's Venetian wedding continues to be targeted by local protestors.
On Wednesday, June 25, protestors placed a dummy in Bezos' likeness in a Venice canal. The dummy, which clutched onto a large rectangular Amazon box and held fistfuls of cash, was dressed in a blue Amazon worker's jumpsuit.
The figure floated in the canal past gondolas and groups of tourists.
This is the latest in a series of public protests by those who don't want Bezos and his party invading Venice.
Earlier this month, a group gathered to protest the couple's wedding. Signs, posters and stickers also have gone up around Venice's historic city center reading "No Space for Bezos" and featuring a rocket image in a nod to his Blue Origin space tourism company.
Protest banners were also hung from some of the city's famed sites, including the Rialto Bridge and the iconic St. Mark's bell tower.
Nearly a dozen Venetian organizations — including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups — have come together with the 'No Space for Bezos' message.
Borne Media, which carried out the dummy stunt, shared in a statement that the figure was perched on a remotely controlled motorized raft.
The group also posted banners around the city reading, 'IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX,' featuring a large image of Bezos, which police took away.
While not everyone in Venice is rolling out the welcome mat for Bezos and Sánchez, Venetian mayor Luigi Brugnaro told The Associated Press that the city is "very proud" to host the wedding.
"It's an honor that they chose Venice. Venice once again reveals itself to be a global stage," he said, adding that he hoped to have an opportunity to meet Bezos.
In a statement to NBC News earlier this month, city hall officials addressed local concerns of widespread disruptions due to the lavish wedding festivities, reiterating that Venice is "fully accustomed to hosting high-profile events of this nature and scale."
"The celebrations, attended by 250 guests, will blend into the daily rhythm of a city that, with dignity and respect, welcomes thousands of visitors from around the world while safeguarding the quality of life for its residents, workers and students," the statement said.
Officials also said the protests "are in no way representative of the majority of citizens, who are proud that Venice has been chosen as the wedding location."
To show their appreciation to Venice, Bezos and Sánchez will spotlight the city's rich artisanal traditions at their wedding and source about 80% of the event's provisions from local vendors, including pastry shop Rosa Salva and glass studio Laguna B, a source told AP. The couple has also asked their A-list guests to make financial donations to Venice instead of giving them gifts.
Sebastiano Costalonga, local city councillor for commerce and productive activities of the municipality of Venice, told PEOPLE that the couple's no-gifts gesture sends "a very important message that should also be extended to the other people who come to get married in Venice, or to celebrate any kind of event here. We are definitely happy to have this funding for the protection of our very delicate city."
As the wedding festivities kick off, numerous celebrity guests have been spotted arriving in Venice this week. Orlando Bloom, Kim Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Tom Brady, Diane von Furstenberg and more have touched down in the Floating City.
A source previously told PEOPLE that security preparations for the Bezos-Sánchez wedding have transformed Venice into a "fortress-like operation," as approximately 20 security personnel were "stationed and in full operational move" across one of the key venues for the couple's celebrations: a closed cloister adjacent to Chiesa della Madonna dell'Orto, a Catholic church in Venice.
The nearly 200 expected guests are being kept in the dark about the details for the wedding events in light of security concerns fueled by the protests.
A source told PEOPLE that guests were given instructions regarding what time to be ready, but not information on where they would ultimately be heading for the ceremony.
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Already, one key venue has been switched due to security concerns. A source told PEOPLE that the wedding party originally planned for June 28 at Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a medieval former religious school in Cannaregio, has been moved to a new location.
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Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
The best that Bezos' money can buy: A wedding for the ages in timeless Venice
Local flavor? You bet. Beyond that, the team of the world's fourth-richest man has kept details under wraps. Still, whispers point to events spread across the lagoon city, adding complexity to what would have been a massive logistical undertaking even on dry land. On Thursday, dozens of private jets touched down at Venice's airport as yachts pulled into the city's famed waterways. Aboard were athletes, celebrities, influencers and business leaders, converging to revel in extravagance that is as much a testament to the couple's love as to their extraordinary wealth. The heady hoopla recalled the 2014 wedding in Venice of actor George Clooney to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, when adoring crowds lined the canals and hundreds of well-wishers gathered outside City Hall. Advertisement Not so for these nuptials, which have become a lightning rod for protests. Still, any desire to dampen the prevailing fever pitch has yet to materialize. Instead, the glitterati were set to party, and the paparazzi jostling for glimpses of the gilded gala. Whatever happens, it will be a wedding for the ages. Logistics and costs Venice is famed for its network of canals, where gondoliers croon for lovestruck couples and even ambulances are aquatic. But water transport of everything from bouquets to guests makes Venice among the world's most challenging cities for a party, according to Jack Ezon, CEO of luxury travel advisory and event planner Embark Beyond. Advertisement 'It's a very tight-knit community; everyone there knows everyone, and you need to work with the right people,' said Ezon, whose company has put on a dozen high-end events in Venice. 'There's very tight control, especially on movement there with boats.' It at least triples the cost versus staging the same soiree in Rome or Florence, he said. Veneto Gov. Luca Zaia was first to give an estimated tally for the Bezos/Sánchez bash: He told reporters this week the most recent total he saw was between 40 and 48 million euros (up to $56 million). It's an eye-popping, jaw-dropping figure that's over 1,000 times the $36,000 average cost of American couples' weddings in 2025, according to wedding planning website Zola's annual report. Bezos' team has been tight-lipped about where these millions are going. When the youngest son of Asia's richest man married last July, performances by pop stars Rihanna and Justin Bieber pushed up the pricetag. 'How do you spend $40 million on a three- or four-day event?' Ezon said. 'You could bring headliners, A-list performers, great DJs from anywhere in the world. You could spend $2 million on an incredible glass tent that's only there for 10 hours, but it takes a month to build," or expand the celebration to local landmarks. There's no sign Sánchez and Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon, intend to take over any of Venice's tourist-thronged hotspots. Still, intense hand-wringing about the prospect prompted their wedding coordinator, Lanza & Baucina, to issue a rare statement calling those rumors false. Advertisement On Thursday, a string of water taxis cut through the lagoon to bring Bezos, Sánchez and guests to the Madonna dell'Orto cloister as some onlookers cheered. Paparazzi followed in their own boats, trying to capture guests on camera — Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Ivanka Trump, Tom Brady, Orlando Bloom — as police on jet skis patrolled. Local media have reported the couple will hold a ceremony Friday on San Giorgio island, across the lagoon basin from St. Mark's Square. Associated Press journalists circling the island Thursday saw workers assembling tents and private security personnel stationed at every pier, including a newly built one. Media have also reported a reception Saturday in the Arsenale, a former navy base best known as a primary venue for the Venice Bienalle. 'No Space' There are some who say these two should not be wed in this city. They characterize the wedding as a decadent display of wealth in a world with growing inequality, and argue it's a shining example of tourism taking precedence over residents' needs, particularly affordable housing and essential services. Venice is also one of the cities most vulnerable to rising sea levels from climate change. About a dozen Venetian organizations — including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups — are protesting under the banner 'No Space for Bezos,' a play on words referring to his space exploration company Blue Origin and the bride's recent space flight. Greenpeace unfurled a banner in St. Mark's Square denouncing Bezos for paying insufficient taxes. Activists floated a bald-headed Bezos-inspired mannequin down a Venice canal atop an Amazon delivery box, its hands clenching fake cash. Advertisement Authorities — from Venice's mayor to the nation's tourism minister — have dismissed the outcry, saying it ignores the visibility and economic boost the wedding brings. 'There will be photos everywhere, social media will go wild over the bride's dress, over the ceremony,' Italy's tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, told the AP. 'All of this translates into a massive free publicity campaign. In fact, because they will spend a lot of money, they will enrich Venice — our shopkeepers, artisans, restauranteurs, hotels. So it's a great opportunity both for spending and for promoting Italy in the world.' Philanthropy As Amazon's CEO, Bezos usually avoided the limelight, frequently delegating announcements and business updates to his executives. Today he has a net worth of $231 billion, according to Forbes. In 2019, he announced he was divorcing his first wife, MacKenzie Scott, just before the National Enquirer published a story about an affair with Sánchez, a former TV news anchor. Sánchez filed for divorce the day after Bezos' divorce was finalized. He stepped down as CEO in 2021, saying he wished to spend more time on side projects, including Blue Origin, The Washington Post, which he owns, and his philanthropic initiatives. Sitting beside Sánchez during an interview with CNN in 2022, he announced plans to give away the majority of his wealth during his lifetime. Last week, a Venetian environmental research association issued a statement saying Bezos' Earth Fund was supporting its work with an 'important donation.' CORILA, which seeks protection of the Venetian lagoon system, said contact began in April, well before any protests. Biller reported from Rome. AP reporter Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report.
New York Post
7 hours ago
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Lalo Schifrin, composer of the ‘Mission: Impossible' theme, dies at 93
Lalo Schifrin, the composer who wrote the endlessly catchy theme for 'Mission: Impossible' and more than 100 other arrangements for film and television, died Thursday. He was 93. Schifrin's sons William and Ryan confirmed his death to trade outlets. The Associated Press' messages to Schifrin's publicist and representatives for either brother were not immediately returned. The Argentine won four Grammys and was nominated for six Oscars, including five for original score for 'Cool Hand Luke,' 'The Fox,' 'Voyage of the Damned,' 'The Amityville Horror' and 'The Sting II.' Advertisement 7 Composer Lalo Schifrin has died at 93. WireImage 'Every movie has its own personality. There are no rules to write music for movies,' Schifrin told The Associated Press in 2018. 'The movie dictates what the music will be.' 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After studying at the Paris Conservatory — where he learned about harmony and composition from the legendary Olivier Messiaen — Schifrin returned to Argentina and formed a concert band. Gillespie heard Schifrin perform and asked him to become his pianist, arranger and composer. In 1958, Schifrin moved to the United States, playing in Gillespie's quintet in 1960-62 and composing the acclaimed 'Gillespiana.' 7 Lalo Schifrin appears at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 2018. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Advertisement The long list of luminaries he performed and recorded with includes Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Dee Dee Bridgewater and George Benson. He also worked with such classical stars as Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniel Barenboim and others. Schifrin moved easily between genres, winning a Grammy for 1965's 'Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts' while also earning a nod that same year for the score of TV's 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' In 2018, he was given an honorary Oscar statuette and, in 2017, the Latin Recording Academy bestowed on him one of its special trustee awards. Later film scores included 'Tango,' 'Rush Hour' and its two sequels, 'Bringing Down The House,' 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey,' 'After the Sunset' and the horror film 'Abominable.' Writing the arrangements for 'Dirty Harry,' Schifrin decided that the main character wasn't in fact Clint Eastwood's hero, Harry Callahan, but the villain, Scorpio. Advertisement 7 'Mission: Impossible' won Grammys for best instrumental theme and best original score from a motion picture or a TV show. 'You would think the composer would pay more attention to the hero. But in this case, no, I did it to Scorpio, the bad guy, the evil guy,' he told the AP. 'I wrote a theme for Scorpio.' It was Eastwood who handed him his honorary Oscar. 'Receiving this honorary Oscar is the culmination of a dream,' Schifrin said at the time. 'It is mission accomplished.' Beyond film and TV Advertisement Among Schifrin's conducting credits include the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Mexico Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He was appointed music director of Southern California's Glendale Symphony Orchestra and served in that capacity from 1989-1995. Schifrin also wrote and adapted the music for 'Christmas in Vienna' in 1992, a concert featuring Diana Ross, Carreras and Domingo. He also combined tango, folk and classical genres when he recorded 'Letters from Argentina,' nominated for a Latin Grammy for best tango album in 2006. 7 Lalo Schifrin attends 34th Annual BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards attends at Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on May 9, 2018 in Beverly Hills, California. Getty Images for BMI Schifrin was also commissioned to write the overture for the 1987 Pan American Games, and composed and conducted the event's 1995 final performance in Argentina. Advertisement And for perhaps one of the only operas performed in the ancient Indigenous language of Nahuatl, in 1988 Schifrin wrote and conducted the choral symphony 'Songs of the Aztecs.' The work premiered at Mexico's Teotihuacan pyramids with Domingo as part of a campaign to raise money to restore the site's Aztec temple. 'I found it to be a very sweet, musical language, one in which the sounds of the words dictated interesting melodies,' Schifrin told The Associated Press at the time. 'But the real answer is that there's something magic about it. … There's something magic in the art of music anyway.' In addition to his sons, he's survived by his daughter, Frances, and wife, Donna.
USA Today
9 hours ago
- USA Today
How many children does Jeff Bezos have? Everyone in Bezos and Sánchez's blended family
All eyes are on billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who is getting ready to tie the knot with long-time fiancée Lauren Sánchez in a lavish ceremony in Venice, Italy. The grand wedding of the fourth-richest person in the world in Italy's historic city has caused consternation online and in Venice and even forced the couple to change venues last-minute. Celebrations for the wedding kicked off June 26 and a parade of stars, from Oprah Winfrey to the Kardashian-Jenners and Ivanka Trump were seen arriving in Venice for the event, reported to be spread over three days between June 26 and 28. Both Bezos, 61, and Sánchez, 55, were previously married to separate people and the upcoming nuptials mark their second marriages. The two, who have children from prior relationships and marriages, now share seven children between them. Sánchez, in a January 2023 interview, with the Wall Street Journal, referred to their blended family as "the Brady Bunch!" "On a typical Saturday, we hang out, we have dinner with the kids, which is always fun because you never know where the conversation is going to go with this many kids," she told the media outlet. Here's what to know about Bezos and Sánchez's blended family. Who are Jeff Bezos' parents? Bezos is the son of Jacklyn Bezos and Ted Jorgensen, who married when they were still teenagers. However, his biological father was never in the picture and Jacklyn's new husband Miguel Bezos adopted him, according to a 1999 Wired profile. "The reality, as far as I'm concerned, is that my Dad is my natural father," Bezos told the magazine. "The only time I ever think about it, genuinely, is when a doctor asks me to fill out a form." Miguel, who along with Jackie, were among the first investors in Amazon, putting in nearly $250,000, according to Bloomberg, was photographed arriving in Venice ahead of the wedding. Jorgensen, meanwhile, had no clue he was the biological father of Amazon billionaire until late 2012 when Brad Stone, a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter and author of "The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon" contacted him, USA TODAY previously reported. "I didn't know where he was, if he had a good job or not, or if he was alive or dead," Jorgensen reportedly told Stone. "I wasn't a good father or a good husband." People reported Jorgensen died in 2015. Who is Jeff Bezos' former wife? Bezos was previously married to influential philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, 55, who helped build Amazon in its early days. The two married in 1993 in Seattle and were married for 25 years before their divorce was finalized in 2019. Scott, the American Book Award winner, has gone on to write two novels and become a celebrated do-gooder, providing sizable contributions to educational and racial equity causes and quietly redefining modern philanthropy. Jeff Bezos divorce: How much money did MacKenzie Scott get? How many children does Jeff Bezos have? Bezos shares four children with former wife MacKenzie Scott: three sons and a daughter. The tech tycoon is notoriously private about his children, and little is known about them. Bezos has never publicly revealed the names or birth dates of his three younger kids, according to Today. The former couple's eldest child Preston made a rare appearance with his father at the American Portrait Gala at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in 2019. Today and People reported Bezos and Scott adopted their daughter from China, though it is not known when. Who did Lauren Sánchez previously date and marry? Sánchez was previously married to media giant Patrick Whitesell. The former couple were married from 2005 to 2019. Whitesell, 60, has since remarried. She was also in a relationship with former NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez, with whom she has a son. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Sánchez opened up about her coparenting relationship with Gonzalez, describing him and his wife, October, as two of her best friends. "Tony and his wife (October 'Tobie' Gonzalez) are my best friends," Sánchez told the newspaper. "It wasn't always that way. There was friction (at the beginning). But Tony and Tobie were at Thanksgiving with us (this year), and we're really good friends." The two are reportedly also set to attend Sánchez's nuptials with Bezos, according to People magazine. Lauren Sánchez's first husband: Who is Patrick Whitesell? How many children does Lauren Sánchez have? Lauren Sánchez has three children. She has two children with Whitesell: Evan Whitesell, born in 2006 and Ella Whitesell, born in 2008, according to People. She also has a son with Gonzalez, Nikko Gonzalez, 24. Contributing: Greta Cross, Taijuan Moorman, Edward Segarra, USA TODAY Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@ and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
