After criticizing the Blue Origin flight, Emily Ratajkowski shared a follow-up TikTok video, in which she offered further comments, explaining why she believes the mission wasn’t “real progress.”
The model alluded that the core of her critique was about Bezos and his aerospace company’s costly flight at a time when there are bigger problems in the world, rather than the fact that women, including women of color, got the opportunity to go to space.
“I’m back, I have more to say,” Ratajkowski began. “I think that this space mission is confusing to people because seeing women and people of color in spaces like science and politics that have not previously included them feels and looks like — like really looks like, optically — looks like progress.”
“But the truth is, is that having a man who has gained his power and become a part of the 1% purely through exploitation and greed deciding to take his fiancée and a few other famous women to space for space tourism is not progress,” she continued.
“Instead, this just speaks to the fact that we are absolutely living in an oligarchy, where there is a very small group of people who are interested in going to space for the sake of getting a new lease on life, while the rest of the population — most people on planet Earth — are worried about paying rent or having dinner for their kids,” she added.
Ratajkowski said she saw a TikTok creator say that “privilege is not an accomplishment.”
“Further, I would say exploitation is certainly not an accomplishment,” she said. “Being able to take the privilege that you have gained from exploitation and greed of the planet, of resources, of human beings and then doing something like going to space for 11 minutes is certainly not an accomplishment.”
“That’s why this all is giving, like, Hunger Games, right?” she asked, referring to the dystopian franchise.
As for why she decided to post another video, Ratajkowski said, “We’re in a place in the world where we need to be able to discern what real progress looks like — and what happened yesterday was nothing, nothing like that.”
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Not long after landing back on Earth, celebs began slamming the all-female Blue Origin flight, and the feedback wasn’t all positive.
The flight, which saw Gayle King,Lauren Sánchez,Katy Perry former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen, and film producer Kerianne Flynn launch into space in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin New Shepard rocket Monday, returned home, completing their mission.
But some celebs are viewing the all-female crew’s 11-minute flight as wasteful, with model Emily Ratajkowski reiterating a sentiment previously shared by Olivia Munn, who criticized Blue Origin for harming the planet with what she saw as a gratuitous journey up to space.”That’s end time s–t,” Ratajkowski said in a clip shared to TikTok. “Like, this is beyond parody.”
She continued, “You say that you care about Mother Earth, and it’s about Mother Earth, and you go up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that is single-handedly destroying the planet. … Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space. For what?”Bridgerton‘s Charithra Chandran also shared her thoughts on the matter, sharing a scathing critique on TikTok.
“Something is just not sitting right with me about those celebrities that went into space today,” Chandran began. “For one, why? Two: aren’t there experts that would kill for this opportunity, and three: doesn’t it just feel like people who have too much money and too much time and not enough to live for? Like, why are you doing that? Why?”
“In fact, I will go as far as to say, anybody who wants to go to space or deep under sea, you don’t have enough problems in your life, because why?,” she continued. “I’m a curious person, but I have never wanted to go to space or to the bottom of the sea, ocean, whatever.”Comedian Amy Schumer used the Blue Origin flight as a comic bit, taking to Instagram to jokingly inform her followers that she’d been added to the venture as a last-minute passenger.
“So I’m going to space and I’m so excited. Lauren Sanchez, Katy Perry and Amanda Nguyen have been my guiding lights through this whole journey, which I just got called to be part of this space team this morning,” Schumer quipped. “And I’m loving it. I’ve always wanted to go to space, and also I just have to say, How high were the people who came up with the name for space? Were they like, ‘What should we call it? It’s got so much, like, space.'”Even fast food chain, Wendy’s seemingly threw shade at the trip, specifically Perry’s jaunt up to space. Replying to a tweet which read, “Katy Perry has returned from space,” the official Wendy’s X account tweeted, “Can we send her back.”
The account also poked fun at Perry kissing the ground upon landing back on Earth. “I kissed the ground and i liked it,” Wendy’s also wrote, referencing Perry’s hit song “I Kissed a Girl.”
Shortly after their post went viral, Kesha took to X to share a photo of herself gleefully sipping from a Wendy’s cup. While she offered no caption, it wasn’t long until those online speculated the post was a dig a Perry, who has been a constant Dr. Luke collaborator amid Kesha’s sexual assault claims and legal battle with the producer. Kesha and Dr. Luke settled their dispute in 2023.Following the flight, both King and Sánchez responded to the criticism they’ve been receiving since announcing their decision to embark on the mission, with King telling PEOPLE: “Anybody that’s criticizing it doesn’t really understand what is happening here.”
“I get really fired up,” Sánchez chimed in.
“I would love to have them come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees that don’t just work here but they put their heart and soul into this vehicle,” she continued of her fiancé’s space technology company. “They love their work and they love the mission and it’s a big deal for them”So when we hear comments like that, I just say, trust me. Come with me. I’ll show you what this is about, and it’s, it’s really eye opening,” she concluded.
Bowe, meanwhile, also weighed in, according to PEOPLE, initially sharing similar sentiments as Sánchez.
She pointed out that she wished “those who are criticizing the mission could read the messages in my inbox.”
