Lee Sanderlin ate an absurd amount of waffles. Werner Herzog ate his shoe. Could the last part of that trifecta be “Jeff Bezos ate a world-famous painting”? Thousands of people on the internet are hoping that that’s the case. Gizmodo’s Jody Serrano reports that an online petition has called upon the Amazon founder to purchase, and then devour, the Mona Lisa.
As of this moment, around 11,000 people have signed the petition. Its description is concise: “Nobody has eaten the mona lisa and we feel jeff bezos needs to take a stand and make this happen.” Remember Boaty McBoatface? Imagine that, but with the world’s richest person eating a centuries-old work of art. The mind boggles.
Vice‘s report on the petition included an interview with musician Kane Powell, who started the petition. Powell told Vice that the idea that Bezos should buy the Mona Lisa initially came up in a conversation at an Applebee’s. As for when eating it came into the picture, Powell was less sure. “I mean, me and my fiancée were dipping into the dollar drink menu,” he said.
For those concerned about the future of the Mona Lisa, there’s reason for optimism — the Louvre’s official response to the petition could be described as “very unamused.” And one assumes Bezos wouldn’t be the easiest person to sway based on a Very Online effort. Had the petition asked Elon Musk to buy and eat the Mona Lisa, on the other hand, things might be very different.
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