In a statement released late on Saturday, billionaire Amazon founder and left-wing activist Jeff Bezos finally responded to a tornado that resulted in the deaths of at least six people at an Amazon warehouse after its collapse in Edwardsville, Illinois, on Friday.
“The news from Edwardsville is tragic. We’re heartbroken over the loss of our teammates there, and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and loved ones,” Bezos wrote. “All of Edwardsville should know that the Amazon team is committed to supporting them and will be by their side through this crisis,” Bezos added in a follow-up tweet. “We extend our fullest gratitude to all the incredible first responders who have worked so tirelessly at the site.”
This came hours after he was slammed on social media for his initial silence regarding the Amazon warehouse tragedy. Instead, he was posting to Instagram about the latest flight of his Blue Origin spacecraft. “Happy crew this morning in the training center…” he wrote on Friday.
“You should worry about the tornado situation more,” one social media user commented.
“Will any of your amazon workers ever take the flight?” another asked.
“Pretty remarkable that Jeff Bezos did not fly to Illinois to support the families of the victims who died in the Amazon warehouse,” one Twitter user said.
“Really struggling with my rage since Jeff Bezos blasted his major carbon polluting rocket this morning after Amazon workers died in a rare December tornado last night,” another wrote.
“SHAME ON JEFF BEZOS!!! He was in West TEXAS today! His employees lives were lost! He could have taken a 1 1/2 hour flight to St Louis which is only a 30-minute drive from the airport to visit his poorly constructed climate change Amazon warehouse that was destroyed by a tornado!” another exclaimed.