Facing outcry, Bezos wants MLK library auditorium to be named after Toni Morrison instead of himself

• Jeff Bezos doesn't want the auditorium of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, to bear his name.
• Instead, he wants the DC Public Library Foundation to name it after late Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has requested not to have the newly renovated auditorium at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, bear his name following fierce public outcry.

Instead, the centibillionaire asked the DC Public Library Foundation to name the auditorium after late Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison, according to an email Bezos sent to the foundation that was obtained by Insider. Morrison, who won the prize for literature in 1993, was the first Black woman to receive the honor.

Bezos' request was first reported by The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos, on Friday.

The decision came after activists excoriated the foundation for considering placing Bezos' name on the auditorium. Additionally, a letter-writing campaign on The Action Network in protest of the decision garnered nearly 18,000 letters as of Friday.

"To name any part of the MLK Library in honor of Jeff Bezos is disrespectful to the legacy of Dr. King and would also cause hurt and harm to DC's Black community,"a website for the campaign said. "Bezos is on a world tour to launder his reputation and the MLK Library should have no part in it."

Bezos donated a whopping $2.7 million to the DC Public Library Foundation late last year to expand its developing reader program, Beyond the Book. It was the largest contribution the foundation ever received in its 35-year history and it prompted the Washington, DC library's executive director to recommend that the auditorium be called "The Bezos Auditorium."

The DC Public Library's Board of Trustees voted last week in favor of naming the auditorium after Bezos, according to The DCist/WAMU, prompting widespread backlash.

"I'm sorry, what? That's ridiculous," DC Councilmember Charles Allen, a Democrat, tweeted on January 27 in response to the news.

In an email sent to the foundation on Thursday, Bezos addressed the criticism and made the new name suggestion.

"[S]ome in the community have suggested a person of color would be more appropriate as a name for the auditorium, especially as it sits inside the Martin Luther King Jr. library," Bezos wrote. "That makes considerable sense to me."

Bezos added that he was "honored and grateful" that the foundation voted to name the auditorium after him.

In a statement provided to Insider, the library's executive director Richard Reyes-Gavilan said: "We are thrilled that Jeff Bezos has recommended that the MLK auditorium be named for Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison. We could not think of a better individual to be honored in our beautiful new building. We look forward to reaching out to the Morrison family for their support."

A spokesperson for Bezos did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.