Thousands sign petition calling for Jeff Bezos to be denied re-entry to Earth after space trip

A petition calling to deny Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos re-entry to Earth following his spaceflight next month has garnered thousands of signatures online.

Mr Bezos, on 7 June, had posted a video on his Instagram account to announce that he will be boarding a sub-orbital flight on 20 July with his brother Mark Bezos. He said: “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of travelling to space. On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”

The Change.org petition, started by Jose Ortiz about a week ago, has, as of Thursday 12.20 am ET, more than 12,000 signatures.

The petition, jokingly addressed to the commercial spaceflight company Blue Origin, stated that “the fate of humanity is in your hands.”

Bezos, the world’s richest man, has a net worth of approximately $186 billion. The petition stated that “Jeff Bezos is actually Lex Luthor, disguised as the supposed owner of a super successful online retail store.”

“He’s actually an evil overlord hellbent on global domination. We’ve known this for years,” the petition said. Lex Luthor is a fictional super villain appearing in DC comic books.

Mr Bezos, 57, is also taking two mystery auction winners along with him on the spaceflight. Last week, Blue Origin sold the first seat on its maiden voyage for $28 million. The company didn’t reveal the name of the auction’s winner. About 7,600 people had registered to bid for the spaceflight seat from 159 countries, as per a statement from Blue Origin.

Proceeds from the auction will go to Blue Origin’s STEM-education foundation Club for the Future.

The Blue Origin space flight will ascend from a desert in western Texas. An autonomous rocket will propel the four passengers above the line that defines the boundary between Earth and outer space. The petition called for Bezos’s trip to space to be extended indefinitely.

It said: “Jeff has worked with the Epsteins and the Knights Templar, as well as the Free Masons, to gain control over the whole world. He’s also in bed with the flat earth deniers; it’s the only way they’ll allow him to leave the atmosphere. Meanwhile, our government stands by and lets it happen.”

“This may be our last chance before they enable the 5G microchips and perform a mass takeover,” it added.

Meanwhile, the New York Times in a damning investigation recently exposed the conditions inside Amazon. The company has been embroiled in controversy after it came to light that workers had to allegedly urinate in bottles because they couldn’t take a bathroom break.

In a rare public apology, Amazon admitted that the retail giant’s employees have urinated in bottles, days after dismissing reports that alleged the same.

Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been vocal critics of the company’s business and labour practices.

ProPublica obtained confidential tax documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service and found that Mr Bezos in 2007, and again in 2011, paid nothing in federal income taxes.

One user on Instagram commented on the video announcement by Mr Bezos about his spaceflight: “Ladies and gentlemen, that’s why you wanna be a billionaire!!!!”