Amazon CEO Warns Peter Thiel About His Lawsuit War With Gawker: ‘You Should Dig Two Graves’
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sat for an interview at Code Conference on Tuesday, where he said that Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel ought to get some thicker skin instead of using his wealth to bury media companies he doesn’t care for.
Bezos was speaking with Recode founding editor Walt Mossberg, who asked him about the revelations that Thiel was the financial muscle behind Hulk Hogan‘s lawsuit against Gawker for publishing his sex tape. Bezos said Thiel’s actions had unsettling connotations for the First Amendment, and that they wouldn’t accomplish anything except satisfy his thirst for vengeance.
“I don’t think a billionaire should be able to fund a lawsuit to kill Gawker,” Bezos said. “Seek revenge and you should dig two graves, one for yourself. How do you want to spend your energy?”
The “revenge” Bezos spoke of most likely refers to how Thiel has justified his actions by saying that Gawker is “bullying people” the way he was when the gossip site outed him as gay. Bezos said that as a public figure, Thiel’s “best defense” against critics and unwanted speech would be to either “develop a thick skin,” or “don’t do anything new or interesting.”
“This country has the best free speech protections in the world because of the Constitution but also because of our cultural norms. You don’t want to create any climate of fear when it comes to free speech norms. Beautiful speech doesn’t need protection; ugly speech does. If you step back and think about what a great society we have, part of it is we have these cultural norms that allow people to say these ugly things. You should let them say it.”
Watch above, via Recode.
[Image via Wikimedia / Flickr]
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