REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa
Jeff Bezos
- In an extraordinary blog post on Thursday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said the National Enquirer and its parent company AMI& threatened to publish intimate personal photos of the billionaire tech exec.
- According to Bezos, AMI allegedly threatened to publish the photos, unless he stopped his investigation into how they leaked - and unless he made a statement disavowing that the original National Enquirer investigation into his alleged affair was politically motivated.
- Bezos said that he refuses to give in to "extortion and blackmail," and believes that it would be a "lie" to say that there was no political motive.
- Applause for Bezos' public response and for his standing up to alleged extortion efforts by the National Enquirer erupted on Twitter Thursday evening.
Read how people are responding to Jeff Bezos:
Beyond the praise, the subject matter and the parties involved - AMI CEO David Pecker and Bezos - created the perfect storm on social media. The Huffington Post's headline really kicked things off.
Still, some tried to come up with their own headlines.
And some just questioned if life could really be real.
AMI's overall strategy was brought into question.
Some pointed to the plot similarities of a certain superhero movie.
Then, there was this awkward LinkedIn connection.
Tech
And with all the jokes out there now, there will likely be some regret tomorrow.
I am deceased. Also, a genius move by Bezos and I have mad respect for all the strategery. Whatever your personal feelings are that's fine, but this is genius and I respect him for this. https://t.co/gjPzLb6BlD
- Brooke Hammerling (@brooke) February 7, 2019Wow. This really is quite the demonstration of the raw power of truth and courage and accepting personal responsibility. https://t.co/xFcUvM1U4s
- Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) February 8, 2019I don't love @JeffBezos in general, but I LOVE Jeff Bezos in particular here. https://t.co/n2EtDhGBpO
- Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) February 7, 2019Good on @JeffBezos. This is straight up sextortion, which too often leads to suicide attempts and other serious harms when targeted at less powerful people.
If you haven't run into this phenomenon, this is a good intro: https://t.co/xxXUAtsFHH
- Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) February 7, 2019Fascinating reading and I'd love to be a fly on the wall at AM's wall when it went live.
Rather admire Bezos' stand on this one. He's called and raised, and I suspect AM will fold like origami. https://t.co/goKCby0wCb
- Iain Thomson (@iainthomson) February 7, 2019I kinda love this Bezos https://t.co/ff1K6ol3zZ
- John Paczkowski (@JohnPaczkowski) February 7, 2019What a day. https://t.co/kQcZ42SSDo pic.twitter.com/FFDS0W3Hm4
- Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen) February 7, 2019Bezos Nix Dick Pix.
It's fun being in 5th grade again.
- Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) February 8, 2019The fact that that dude's name is Pecker is yet another tell that we're living in a simulation.
- Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) February 7, 2019Just catching up with the news and... um... so Jeff Bezos is the richest person in human history, used his spare change to build his own spaceships, owns a major US newspaper as well as obviously the vast logistics chain that made him a pharoah... pic.twitter.com/rkflTG4Mi4
- Wᴀʀʀᴇɴ Eʟʟɪs (@warrenellis) February 7, 2019The Bezos post reminds me of that scene in "Dark Knight" where someone tries to blackmail Bruce Wayne by revealing his identity as Batman: pic.twitter.com/jhWOp02caK
- michael_nielsen (@michael_nielsen) February 7, 2019One thing Jeff Bezos doesn't mention in his letter is that Jon Fine, the AMI deputy gen counsel who threatened his team, is...a former Amazon attorney https://t.co/ZCGAgf9v32 pic.twitter.com/w8xm0TfUUh
- Nick Wingfield (@nickwingfield) February 7, 2019Tough day for anyone who was about to publish their break-out Medium post.
- Aaron Levie (@levie) February 8, 2019tomorrow everyone is going to look at their twetes from this afternoon with the sober regret of a coyote ugly one-night stand
- rat king (@MikeIsaac) February 8, 2019