Jeff Bezos’ extravagant Venice wedding to Lauren Sánchez over the weekend drew plenty of famous faces — and sharp criticism from Charlize Theron, who called out the star guests and the Amazon founder’s support of Donald Trump.
During her fifth Block Party for the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, the actress opened her speech by joking about their collective exclusion from Bezos and Sánchez’s guest list. “I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding,” she said. “But that’s okay because they suck and we’re cool.”
She further dug into Bezos’ support of Trump and his radical and hurtful policies against immigrants, women, and queer people. “Here in Los Angeles, in the US and across the globe, we’re moving backwards fast. Immigration policy has destroyed the lives of families, not criminals; women’s rights are becoming less and less every day; queer and trans lives are increasingly being erased; and gender-based violence is on the rise,” Theron said. “This isn’t just policy, it’s personal.”
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Bezos previously maintained a terse relationship with Trump during his first presidential term, but has since been more supportive of him in recent years. In 2024, The Washington Post, which Bezos purchased in 2013, ceased its tradition of endorsing a presidential candidate indefinitely, citing “readers’ ability to make up their own minds,” but many hypothesized Bezos blocked a Kamala Harris endorsement for fear of retribution from Trump.
Bezos later congratulated Trump after he won the 2024 presidential election on Twitter: “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory. No nation has bigger opportunities,” he tweeted. “Wishing [Donald Trump] all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.” He also attended Trump’s inauguration sitting alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk.
Celebrities who attended Bezos and Sánchez’s wedding included Sydney Sweeney, Usher, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, and Kylie and Kendall Jenner, among others, while Ellie Goulding and Matteo Bocelli performed at the couple’s reception.
Theron wasn’t the only one who spoke out: Venice locals protested the lavish event reported to cost in excess of $50 million, and environmental group Greenpeace blasted Bezos for paying low taxes, unfurling a massive banner in St. Mark’s Square that read, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.”
Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in 2021, but remains its executive chairman as of 2025.
