Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Super Bowl ad was just a stand-in for another ad about his spaceflight company, which some think was pulled after it came to light his mistress helped shoot footage for that commercial.
The Washington Post owner decided not to run the $20 million Super Bowl ad when his affair with Lauren Sanchez, a former TV anchor and helicopter pilot, went public, sources told Page Six.
Sanchez had shot some of the aerial footage of rocket launches and landings for Bezos’ spaceflight company, Blue Origin.
“Bezos did shoot a Blue Oracle ad, costing around $15 to $20 million, that was scheduled to run during the Super Bowl,” a source said. “There was talk that he spent so much money on it because he wanted to be close to her. But the speculation is that he pulled the ad because it would be embarrassing because Lauren worked on the ads.”
Bezos, 54, and his wife, MacKenzie, 48, announced last month that they would be divorcing after 25 years of marriage.
“As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends,” the two said in a joint statement.
Instead of running the Blue Origin commercial, the Amazon founder kept the ad spot and ran an advertisement for the Post that emphasized the importance of journalists and a free press.
According to the Post’s CEO, the commercial was meant to “highlight the important, and increasingly dangerous, work of journalists around the world” to the “large audience of Americans and international viewers that watch the Super Bowl.”
The ad reportedly cost at least $5 million, and many media industry personnel said that money could have been used to employ more journalists or contribute to increasing the benefits and salaries for journalists already working at the Post.
