Jeff Bezos shows progressive Washington Post staff what he thinks of their rage for refusing to endorse Kamala

Jeff Bezos partied overseas as the crisis surrounding his refusal to use the Washington Post to endorse Kamala Harris unfolded.

The billionaire was joined by wife Lauren Sanchez and Katy Perry as the Post was hit by 250,000 cancelling their subscriptions in protest at the decision. 

Perry had been celebrating her 40th birthday in Venice alongside Bezos, Sanchez, and her fiancé Orlando Bloom. Sanchez marked the occasion with an Instagram story showing the city’s canals, tagging Perry specifically – to thank her for ‘the Best Weekend’.

Days before, the Amazon owner sparked a liberal meltdown spiking the paper’s planned endorsement – a tradition that had been in place for decades. 

The fallout saw him publish an op-ed defending the decision, citing growing ‘distrust’ of media.

A still from Perry’s party at The Ritz Carlton in Switzerland for her 40th birthday bash, which was attended by Sanchez. Insiders later confirmed Bezos was in Europe with his fiancée to take part in the festivities, during which Perry’s guests were flown to the hotel

‘What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias,’ the 60-year-old worth some $206.2 billion wrote Monday.

‘A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.’

Three days before, Post CEO Will Lewis released a memo announcing the absence of an endorsement – the first time the paper would not air one since 1988.

It spawned immediate backlash amongst the Post’s readership – as well as intrigue among Post employees as to Bezos’s whereabouts.

Reporting conducted by The New York Times over the weekend revealed Bezos was had been involved, around 12:30am Monday, the tabloid Hello! nailed down his location.

The website wrote: ‘While the pop star has several famous pals in her orbit, it was her close friend [Sanchez] who was by her side for a luxurious and beautiful celebratory getaway,’ while sharing snippets of the Instagram story taken from a boat in Venice.

Hours later, an insider described as a ‘person who known Bezos’ confirmed to Semafor that Bezos had been in Europe with his fiancée to celebrate Perry’s birthday.

Hello! billed the location Venice, before Perry went on to whisk her closest friends to Geneva for a 40s themed bash.

Sanchez marked the occasion with an Instagram story showing the city’s seminal canals, tagging Perry specifically – to thank her for ‘the Best Weekend’

Held at the Ritz Carlton, it saw the singer jokingly brandish a mini syringe with ‘OzempiKP’ written on it in reference to her recent weight loss. 

It’s unclear if Bezos and Sanchez are in the photo, which is circulating across social media.

The couples have been spotted vacationing together in the past – in places such as Croatia last year alongside Usher, and on Bezos’s superyacht for an A-list party this year, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.

As this recent excursion was happening, fallout from the Post’s failure to endorse Harris was starting to take hold, with a reported quarter-of-a-million readers pulling their subscriptions within a matter of days.

The number serves as ten percent of the paper’s total digital subscription-base.

Among them was The Wire creator David Simon, who labeled Bezos a ‘technobrat oligarch’.

A flood of resignations followed – with outgoing Post Opinion Editor Robert Kagan going on to claim that the decision stemmed from a quid-pro-quo with the Donald Trump campaign, after execs from Blue Origin were spotted meeting with Trump last week.

The Post’s decision last week spawned almost-immediate backlash – as well as intrigue among Post employees as to Bezos’s whereabouts after he was linked to the decision

Bezos published a lengthy op-ed on Monday night explaining his newspaper’s decision not to endorse Kamala Harris for the election

Another columnist, Michelle Norris, also walked out Sunday, writing on X that the decision was a ‘terrible mistake’.  

Blue Origin is Bezos’ space company, and the meeting came following a Trump speech in Austin, Texas, Thursday.

The Post denied the meeting had anything to do with their decision, which was delivered in the form of a note from publisher Will Lewis, irritating several staffers.

‘We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility,’ Lewis wrote, before Bezos would later weigh in on the unfolding crisis with his op-ed. 

‘That is inevitable,’ Lewis went on. ‘We don’t see it that way. We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for.’ 

Twenty columnists went on to write their own opinion piece on the outlet’s own website, calling the decision ‘a terrible mistake.’

‘The Washington Post’s decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign… represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love,’ it added.

Staff at The Post wrote their own piece, publishing onto the outlet that they believed the decision was a ‘terrible mistake’ 

A flood of resignations followed – including those of outgoing Post Opinion Editor Robert Kagan and columnist Michele Norris

‘The is a moment for the institution to be making clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, and the threat that Donald Trump poses… the precise points The Post made in endorsing Trumps’ opponents in 2016 and 2020.

Bezos purchased the Post for $250 million in 2013. The paper has endorsed Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the past

In his op-ed this week, he wrote that ‘no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here’ in response to now-swirling allegations his people were swayed by the Trump team.

‘Neither campaign nor candidate was consulted or informed at any level or in any way about this decision. It was made entirely internally,’ he wrote in the piece.

‘I sighed when I found out, because I knew it would provide ammunition to those who would like to frame this as anything other than a principled decision.

‘But the fact is, I didn’t know about the meeting beforehand,’ the commerce kingpin continued.

‘Even Limp didn’t know about it in advance; the meeting was scheduled quickly that morning. 

In his op-ed this week, Bezos wrote that ‘no quid pro quo of any kind is at work here’ in response to now-swirling allegations he was swayed by the Trump team

‘There is no connection between it and our decision on presidential endorsements, and any suggestion otherwise is false.’

Meanwhile, his paper is now in the midst of a startling dropoff in subscribers, after finally regaining some readership following Biden’s bowing out of the race. 

Prior to that, it had been plagued cuts and losses in talents, making its future all the more uncertain.

The Times on Sunday confirmed Bezos played a major part in the decision, after speaking with insiders familiar with the matter.