“I’ve never been more uncomfortable with a photo,” said a comment under Vouge’s Instagram post Monday.
It was just one of the many comments ripping the photo to shreds. In it, Amazon founder and current third richest man in the world Jeff Bezos, 59, is shown in a tight black shirt and a cowboy hat. His fiancée, media personality Lauren Sánchez, 53, is draped over him with her arms around his neck and her large engagement ring prominently featured.
According to the Vogue article that ran with the photos, Sánchez asked Bezos to make margaritas at 2 p.m. as they toured his West Texas ranch. From there, he launches rockets at his Blue Origin space facility.
While the piece depicted a happy couple, many reactions to the photo were negative.
“How much did he pay y’all to engorge his bicep,” asked one user.
Bezos had a much different image when he first started Amazon as an online marketplace for books. This summer, Business Insider reported on the tech mogul’s “glo-up” and new “jacked” physique.
“He went from eating a tin of biscuits for breakfast every morning to putting in hours in the gym,” said the outlet.
Still, the commenters did not appear to appreciate the billionaire’s new bod.
Sophia Roe, a chef and influencer, said “i’m just trying to figure out what exactly this is…”
“I would like to unsee this picture,” said another commenter.
“I wish IG had a filter to let me block any billionaire PR content,” said yet another.
Writer Emily Jane Johnston asked “Vogue, asking for a friend… you ok babe?”
“I think we should be allowed to criticize the things we love. I’ve been a fan of this publication for a long time. But this is a remarkably unflattering and tone deaf post and the timing is uncanny. Do better Vogue!!!” said entrepreneur Okuntakinte. Others said they thought the spread depicted Bezos and his fiancée “cosplaying” working class people while he has billions of dollars.
Willam Belli, a drag queen and actor, commented that “nobody wants this,” and beauty editor Dione Davis said: “Y’all forgot to include Paid Partnership at the top.”
“Anyone else feeling incredibly uncomfortable with this?” asked influencer Fredrika Alexander.
“Someone needs to lose their job over this,” said model Brett Staniland.
Still, Bezos did get some support in the comments section, notably from members of the Jenner-Kardashian family, including Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian.
“LOVE THIS SHOOT!!!” Kardashian said.