Jeff Bezos' new yacht in Netherlands under fire, thousands RSVP to throw eggs at it
Rotterdam residents are taking aim at a superyacht so big it'll require a bridge to be moved to get out to sea
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest man, and he commissioned the world’s largest sailing yacht — so big that in order to get it out to sea, he’s offering to pay to take apart and reassemble a historic bridge that it needs to pass to get out of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
It may result in the world’s biggest scrambled eggs, if a planned Facebook event to hurl rotten eggs at the $485 million vessel is as popular as its signup sheet suggests.
Facebook user Pablo Strörmann, a Rotterdam resident, stirred up "Eieren gooien naar superjacht Jeff Bezos (Throwing eggs at superyacht Jeff Bezos)" earlier this month, inviting the "the international Egg tossing community" to bombard Bezos’ boat on June 1. More than 20,000 people had marked themselves as going or interested in going as of Wednesday afternoon.
A general view of "De Hef" as the city of Rotterdam has agreed to remove a section of the historic bridge to make way for a superyacht, reportedly built for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Feb. 3, 2022. (REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw / Reuters Photos)
"For our international guests: Calling all Rotterdammers, take a box of rotten eggs with you, and let's throw them en masse at Jeff's superyacht when it sails through the Hef in Rotterdam," the event’s description reads.
JEFF BEZOS TO DISMANTLE HISTORIC DUTCH BRIDGE FOR SUPERYACHT
The Hef is a nickname for the 145-year-old Koningshaven Bridge. It has just 130 feet of clearance, according to Dutch media. The yacht, dubbed Y721, needs more than that to pass beneath. On the sunny side, Bezos and the shipbuilder, Oceanco, have offered to cover the cost of temporarily removing and replacing the bridge in order to get the new superyacht out.
"Normally it’s the other way around," Strörmann told the Netherlands-based NL Times last week. "If your ship doesn’t fit under a bridge, you make it smaller — but when you happen to be the richest person on Earth, you just ask a municipality to dismantle a monument. That’s ridiculous."
DUTCH MAYOR DENIES REPORT CITY WILL DISMANTLE BRIDGE FOR BEZOS YACHT
A Facebook group associated with the event had several hundred members, with views on the event scrambled together.
"How many people throw eggs one day and buy from Amazon the next?" one of them asked.
Another shared plans for how to build "a cannon that fires eggs at a high rate of speed and launches them to great distances" out of PVC piping.
Representatives for Bezos did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
The Y721 is a three-masted aluminum and steel schooner about 417 feet long, according to Boat International. In addition to being the largest sailing yacht ever constructed, it’s also the largest yacht of any kind produced in the Netherlands, according to the outlet.
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Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said earlier this month that city officials had not yet reached a decision on how to proceed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.