Amazon Owner Jeff Bezos' Space Trip Sparks Petition to Bar Him From Returning to Earth

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may be needing to pack a little extra when he travels to space in July, because thousands of earthlings are hoping he stays there. As Bezos prepares for Blue Origin's first crewed rocket to space on July 20, a new online petition is calling for Bezos to be denied re-entry to Earth.

Created by Jose Ortiz shortly after Bezos announced on June 7 that he and his brother, Mark Bezos, will be among the passengers aboard the New Shepard, a suborbital rocket system developed by his aerospace company Blue Origin, next month, the Change.org petition has already racked up more than 15,000 signatures, a number that is only growing. While Bezos is most well-known for being the world's richest man, with a net worth of around $200 billion, the petition says he is "actually Lex Luthor, disguised as the supposed owner of a super successful online retail store." It adds that mere earthlings have "known for years" that Bezos is "an evil overlord hellbent on global domination," and as such, we should seize this opportunity to prevent him from carrying out his devious plans.

"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," the petition reads. "This may be our last chance before they enable the 5G microchips and perform a mass takeover."

As of this posting, the petition has already surpassed more than 15,500 signatures and is quickly nearing the 16,000 mark in the week since its creation. A second petition, also calling on Bezos to be denied re-entry, has nearly 18,000 signatures. That petition says "billionaires should not exist...on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter they should stay there." Both petitions have a goal of 25,000 signatures.

The petitions were created following the early June announcement from Bezos that he and his brother would be aboard the New Shepard launch. The flight will launch from western Texas and take passengers on an 11-minute flight above the Kármán Line, "the internationally recognized boundary of space." Ahead of the flight, Blue Origin launched an auction for two passenger seats, with the first seat going for $28 million. Proceeds from the auction will go to Blue Origin's STEM-education foundation Club for the Future.