Jeff Bezos' Yacht

About

Jeff Bezos' Yacht, also known as Jeff Bezos' Superyacht, refers to a controversy regarding Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who ordered a superyacht to be built for him in a Dutch harbor starting in late 2021 and going into 2022. After it was reported that a historic bridge was to be dismantled for his yacht to pass through, memes and tweets emerged online. More memes appeared after thousands of Dutch citizens pledged to throw rotten eggs at Bezos' yacht.

Background

According to an article from Boat International,^[1] Jeff Bezos' superyacht was originally commissioned in October 2021. It was constructed by the company Oceano Yachts, also known as Lürssen Yachts,^[2] located in the Oceano Shipyard in the city of Alblasserdam, Netherlands. The boat is 127 meters long and is supposedly worth $500 million USD. It is the longest yacht to have been built in the Netherlands and the largest ever superyacht built at Oceanco. A video of the yacht was taken in February 2022 by photographer Guy Fleury (shown below).

Developments

Jeff Bezos' Superyacht Set To Dismantle The Koningshavenbrug Bridge

On February 2nd, 2022, it was reported by Dutch News^[3] that Bezos' superyacht was too big to sail underneath the Koningshavenbrug bridge, also known locally as the De Hef, in the city of Rotterdam. The bridge was placed over the river in 1927 and is a draw bridge whose middle part rises upwards like an elevator so that ships can pass through. However, Bezos' yacht would not be able to abide by the bridge's 40 meters of clearance.^[1]

The news broke on Twitter most notably via a tweet from Twitter^[4] user VangelinaSkov, who received over 700 likes in five days for her screenshot of the Dutch News headline (shown below, left). Even though February 2022 is when Bezos' yacht was referenced en masse on Twitter, tweets like one from Twitter^[5] user JoshuaPotash date back to October 26th, 2021. His tweet (shown below, right) received roughly 9,800 likes over the course of three months.

More tweets surfaced going into February about Bezos' yacht. For instance, Twitter^[6] user RepAdamSchiff posted a tweet on February 3rd that earned roughly 102,100 likes in four days, making a point about Bezos' questionable practices regarding his employees (shown below).

On February 4th, it was reported by Boat International^[1] that the mayor of Rotterdam stated "no application" was made to dismantle the bridge, quelling suspicion about the event.

Dutch Citizen Pledge To Throw Rotten Eggs At Bezos' Yacht

On February 4th, 2022, Netherlands-based Facebook user Pablo Strörmann created an event^[7] titled, "Eieren gooien naar superjacht Jeff Bezos (Throwing eggs at superyacht Jeff Bezos)." In the description of the event, Strörmann stated, "Calling all Rotterdammers, take a box of rotten eggs with you and let's throw them en masse at Jeff's superyacht when it sails through the Hef in Rotterdam." Strörmann also created a header image for the event (shown below). Over the course of three days, the event amassed roughly 3,400 Facebook users who labeled themselves as "Going." The event is set to take place on June 1st, 2022.

Although the pledge was created on the 4th, Twitter^[8] user StottR was the first to suggest a mass throwing of objects at Bezos' yacht on February 2nd. His tweet (shown below) earned 14 likes in four days.

Image macro memes appeared on Reddit going into February regarding the Dutch citizens pledging to throw rotten eggs. For instance, on February 6th, Redditor Kylbossboi07 posted to /r/Memes, ^[9] earning roughly 7,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Search Interest

External References