It's one of the most romantic cities in the world, so it's no wonder why Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez chose the Italian Lagoon city for their mega wedding. But when the star studded celebrations kick off in Venice this week, [00:00:15] not everyone in the city is so supportive. Greenpeace activists displayed a large banner in the famous Saint Mark's Square on Monday, while a group of frustrated locals have threatened to disrupt the couple's big day any way they can. [00:00:31] Look, a lot of these fancy European cities that people from around the world like to travel to, have kind of gotten under the skin of locals because I'm sure it's annoying to have like this massive influx of tourists come in and take up all this space, [00:00:47] but it becomes even more aggravating when you're talking about one of the richest men on the planet, Jeff Bezos, deciding to have his wedding in Venice. And of course, that's been met with a lot of protests. So Greenpeace and a group of Venetian activists, dubbed No Space for Bezos, [00:01:05] have launched a multitude of protests against the couple because they say that Venice is already being overrun by tourists and other billionaires. So we want to spend a very. We want to send, I should say, a very clear message. [00:01:20] The ones who should be ashamed are them. They are the people who have destroyed this city. And that was a quote from one of the protesters. Now, Venice's two square mile main island and historic center, home to about 50,000 people, receives about 20 million visitors yearly, mostly day trippers [00:01:39] from cruise ships or other cities. And while tourism is central to Venice's economy and cultural identity, critics are arguing that it has displaced residents and damaged some historical sites as well. [00:01:55] If you guys can recall, last summer we did a story similar to this that had to do with protesters locals who are protesting in Barcelona, Spain. But we reported on those protests, and I want to give you a little taste of what we had to say. Let's watch. [00:02:12] A water fight on the streets of Barcelona. Some locals spraying tourists with water guns as they ate at popular restaurants, sending visitors fleeing from their tables. Thousands of protesters walking through the city over the weekend chanting tourists go home and carrying signs with anti-tourist slogans. [00:02:35] But those protests were taking place, right before I went to Barcelona, and I was happy to report that, there were no protests happening when I was there. But I literally did consider not going, because who wants to spend like thousands of dollars to visit a city where you're not wanted? But in the case of Venice, the Bezos are they're not wanted. [00:02:53] Okay, so the protests that took place over the last few days in Venice were, interesting. So in the video that we showed at the beginning of the story, there was this big sign that was unfurled, take a look at it. It says, if you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more taxes. [00:03:13] So there's obviously a lot of political commentary associated with these protests, and the no space for Bezos group also threatened to flood the canals with inflatable crocodiles to block the guests from arriving. And it looks like it's worked. Apparently, they've decided to move their post-wedding celebration [00:03:32] to a different location. And so, look, the protesters believe that the reason why they moved the afterparty is because of their protests. Others are arguing it's a different reason. Who knows? Who cares? But what are your thoughts? [00:03:48] Yeah, I think that there's a really good political point in here, and it's and and I think it's best made by Warren Gunnels. He's the policy director for Bernie Sanders. And he wrote this is what oligarchy oligarchy looks like. Jeff Bezos, the third richest man in the world with $231 billion, [00:04:05] can afford to sail into Venice on his $500 million yacht for his $20 million, three day wedding to give his bride a $5 million ring because his real tax rate is 1.1%. Tax the rich. Shh. That's exactly right. [00:04:21] Look, I don't begrudge him the money that he's made. I'm not in that camp. I'm not in the camp of there shouldn't be billionaires and we should eat the rich. Okay. But I am in the camp of why the f does he only have to pay 1% an effective tax rate when the rest of us in the middle class pay a ton of taxes, and then [00:04:40] this guy gets to live spectacularly? No problem. As long as you pay your goddamn taxes and they don't. So I would love a left wing populist in office one day that makes them actually pay their taxes. Then they can have any goddamn winning they like. [00:04:58] Yeah. I mean I love the political statements that are being made here. Now again, according to local press reports, the venue switch was really over security concerns. But maybe the security concerns have to do with the fact that there are protests against them. But they argue, no, it's the war between Israel and Iran, [00:05:14] which isn't happening anymore. So the venue switch happening for that reason doesn't make much sense. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.