‘Billionaires should not exist’: Thousands sign petitions calling for Jeff Bezos not to return from space trip

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will embark on a trip to space soon—and tens of thousands of people don’t want him to come back to Earth afterward.

Last month, Bezos’s space company Blue Origin announced that he and his brother Mark Bezos will be among the first crewed flight of the rocket ship New Shepard when it takes off on July 20. The ship will also take another person who bid $28 million to be on the flight.

The flight is scheduled shortly after Bezos is expected to step down as the CEO of Amazon.

While the flight is sure to be ballyhooed, tens of thousands of people hope the billionaire does not return to Earth after the flight.

One petition on Change.org, titled “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth” has amassed more than 43,000 signatures as of Monday morning. Another petition on the site, “Petition To Not Allow Jeff Bezos Re-Entry To Earth,” has had more than 20,000 people sign it.

“Billionaire’s should not exist…on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there,” the more popular petition’s description reads.

A large number of the comments on that petition had a similar theme: “Billionaires should not exist.”

The “Do not allow Jeff Bezos to return to Earth” petition is seeking 50,000 signatures and should hit that goal easily. Meanwhile, the “Petition To Not Allow Jeff Bezos Re-Entry To Earth” is less than 5,000 signatures away from its goal of 25,000.

If they hit those goals, the petitions will be “one of the top signed” petitions on Change.org, according to the site.

The animosity toward the Amazon CEO shouldn’t come as a surprise. Amazon has faced intense criticism over the treatment of its employees and its “surveillance empire.” Meanwhile, a video showing a group of TikTokers heckling Bezos went viral last week.