Billionaires be warned ― Christine Baranski had no problem giving Elon Musk a death stare at the Met Gala, and she’s certainly not going to keep quiet about Jeff Bezos-sponsored missions to space.
The “Gilded Age” actor slammed the Amazon and Blue Origin founder’s April all-female flight, which she called a “grotesque display of wealth” while speaking on a panel about her HBO show at the ATX TV Festival on Monday.
“Sending women into a spaceship for what? So they can do their makeup? What the fuck?” Baranski asked, People magazine reported.
“Don’t get me started,” she added.
Baranski has also criticized Musk’s space exploration through his company SpaceX, telling Entertainment Weekly that she “dissed” the billionaire at the Met Gala back in 2022.
“I was with someone who was at my table, and I noticed Elon Musk and I went, ‘Oh my God, it’s Elon Musk,’” she said. “I basically said [to my friend], ‘I don’t know how you feel about him, but why is he spending billions of dollars in space when he could be cleaning up the planet?’ I’m an environmentalist.”
The crew for the Blue Origin mission Baranski referenced included Bezos’ now-wife, Lauren Sanchez, journalist Gayle King, singer Katy Perry, NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist and research scientist Amanda Nguyễn and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
King said after the flight ― and the backlash it created ― that she wishes “people would do more due diligence” before criticizing members of the crew.
“And then my question is, ‘Have y’all been to space?’” the “CBS Mornings” journalist told Extra back in April. “Go to space, or go to Blue Origin and see what they do and how they do, and then come back and say, ‘This is a terrible thing.’”
Sanchez made similar comments in an interview with People, telling the magazine that she gets “really fired up” about the criticism.
“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 said just after she returned from space.