New Yorkers are taking a bite out of tech billionaires by purchasing $10 popsicles shaped like the wealthiest men in the world.
Art collective MSCHF — the same group that faced backlash last year for making “Satan Shoes” with rapper Lil Nas X — began selling popsicles bearing names like “bite Bezos” for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, “munch Musk” for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, “suck Zuck” for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “snack on Jack” for Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and “gobble Gates” for Microsoft founder Bill Gates, according to Quartz. MSCHF is also offering its products across Los Angeles.
Despite promoting slogans like “Eat the Rich,” MSCHF appears to be making bank. The popsicles are twice as expensive as normal ice pops, according to Quartz.
New Yorkers can take a bite out of capitalism by munching on popsicles shaped like the heads of billionaires Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Jack Ma, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg near McCarren Park in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/oD8JEZhkeW
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 13, 2022
Nevertheless, the anti-capitalist frozen confection enthusiasts seemed to enjoy getting a bite of the action. “They’re not great people,” a customer told Quartz, “but for me it’s an experience. I love this type of thing. I think this is really cute.”
“I could really take a bite out of all of them easily,” another customer remarked. “I don’t think anybody in the whole world should be a billionaire,” she continued, saying that Bezos is “taking over all business, and small businesses can’t survive anymore.”
Billionaire business magnates are often the subject of progressive ire. As the United States became awash with social justice activism during the summer of 2020, activists set up a guillotine in front of Jeff Bezos’ home in Washington, DC. One of the demonstrators said on a bullhorn that “it is still exploitation and when they become threatened, and we have no voice, the knives come out.”
Other protesters marched through Beverly Hills, California, chanting slogans like “eat the rich” and “abolish capitalism now.” In St. Louis, Missouri, protesters attempted to intimidate residents of a gated community, but were met by lawyers Mark and Patricia McCloskey guarding their property with their firearms.
Disdain for billionaires also exists among many Democratic lawmakers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) asserted on Twitter last year that the “rigged tax code” ought to be changed so that Musk will “stop freeloading off everyone else.”
Musk — who has since announced that he will begin voting for Republicans — replied with a series of knockout blows. First, he suggested that Warren “stop projecting.” Then, he said Warren reminds him of “when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason.” And finally: “Please don’t call the manager on me, Senator Karen.”
Musk also revealed that he had shelled out over $11 billion in taxes — possibly the most any individual American has paid in a single year. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) was not satisfied, however, and argued that it is “long overdue that the richest of the rich pay their fair share.” After Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) pushed for a tax on unrealized capital gains, Musk noted that “eventually, they run out of other people’s money and then they come for you.”