Jeff Bezos is told to ‘stay quiet’ after responding to a university professor’s tweet about the Queen’s death
Dr Uju Anya of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh accused the Queen of “genocide”
Jeff Bezos has divided opinion after weighing in on a tweet written by a professor who accused the Queen of “genocide”, just hours before her death.
Dr Uju Anya, who describes herself as a “antiracist” and a “feminist” on Twitter, was born in Nigeria to parents from Trinidad and Tobago - both of which were colonised by the British until 1962.
Posting on Twitter before the Queen’s death was announced, she wrote: “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.”
Jeff Bezos quoted Dr Anya, who is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, writing: “This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow.”
A stream of critics began arguing about the Amazon founder’s own wealth and questionable business practices.
“You should probably stay quiet when it comes to critiques of empire + its overlords,” one wrote.
Another added: “You're 100% right but this is definitely "punching down" for you to say it.”
A third said: “u and the queen would see eye to eye huh...all that exploiting others to enrich yourselves. sorry ur bestie is gone :(”
Dr Anya responded to Bezos’ post, saying: “Otoro gba gbue gi. May everyone you and your merciless greed have harmed in this world remember you as fondly as I remember my colonizers.”
After the Queen’s death was revealed, she added: “If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.”
Twitter has since deleted Dr Anya’s controversial first tweet claiming that it “violated the Twitter Rules”.
In a statement, Carnegie Mellon University said: “We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uku Anya today on her personal social media account.
“Free expression is core to the mission of higher education, however, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster.”
Bezos has remained under extreme criticism from Twitter users, who accuse him of overworking employees, not allowing bathroom breaks without permission and using data from Amazon questionably.
He currently has a net worth of $136 million as of September 2022, making Jeff the 4th wealthiest person in the world.
The business mogul was the richest person between 2017 and 2021, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index until Elon Musk overtook him.