Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly took aim at Jeff Bezos’ latest Blue Origin space venture, denouncing it as the Amazon founder’s “sexual fantasy rocket” during a fiery episode of her SiriusXM radio show.
The April 14 flight, which carried a group of high-profile, but under-qualified celebrity women, including singer Katy Perry, CBS host Gayle King, and Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez, has drawn significant backlash.
“The ladies of the Blue Origins mission, the space mission, they’re talking about it like it was Apollo 11. They think they’re Neil Armstrong,” Kelly began.
“Wait until you hear how they talked about their 10-minute trip on Jeff Bezos’ sexual fantasy rocket.”
She dismissed the comparison to real space pioneers like astronaut Alan Shepard.
“When he did his first space flight, it was the first space flight, like that’s the reason it was exciting. It wasn’t for commercial gain. It wasn’t to promote Amazon,” Kelly said.
“It wasn’t with some women with her t*ts hanging out who needed a little extra attention.”
Joining Kelly was Batya Ungar-Sargon, columnist for The Free Press, who described the experience as shallow and out of touch.
“They admired the universe and what they were expecting was for us to admire the fact that they were rich enough and famous enough to have been granted this utterly vacuous experience from which they learned absolutely nothing,” she remarked.
Gayle King, who participated in the flight, later defended the mission and seemed shocked by the public’s negative response.
“There was nothing frivolous about what we did,” she told reporters. “Whenever a man goes up … you have never said to a [male] astronaut, ‘What a ride.’ [Don’t] call it a ride. It’s called a flight or a journey.”
King highlighted the impact she hoped the flight would have and how upset she was that it didn’t resonate.
“I’m very disappointed and saddened by [the hate],” the CBS host stated.
Gayle King responds to criticism of her Blue Origin space flight, says people calling it “a ride” is “disrespectful.” Full interview 🔗: https://t.co/VIwjEycANG pic.twitter.com/c1Bn6Jntaq
— ExtraTV (@extratv) April 15, 2025
“What it’s doing to inspire other women and young girls — please don’t ignore that.”
Kelly was unmoved. “I’m still stuck on the fact that Gayle King actually used the word ‘astronauts’ in reference to [the women on the flight]. Like an actual astronaut,” she said.
“You are there on a vanity project of Jeff Bezos and his fiancée. You’ve done absolutely nothing to deserve this. You’re sitting next to Katy Perry.”
Kelly pointed to the celebrity fanfare surrounding the launch as contributing to its superficial image.
“If you don’t want people to think it’s frivolous, Gayle, then don’t have the f**king Kardashians craft-side as you take off and Oprah,” she said.
Public reaction from several celebrities has echoed Kelly’s criticism. Olivia Munn questioned the purpose of the flight.
“What’s the point? Is it historic that you guys are going on a ride? I think it’s a bit gluttonous,” Munn said.
“Space exploration was to further our knowledge and to help mankind. What are they gonna do up there that has made it better for us down here?”
Model and activist Emily Ratajkowski also voiced dismay. “That space mission this morning, that’s end-time sh**. Like, this is beyond parody.”
“Saying that you care about Mother Earth, and it’s about Mother Earth, and going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that’s single-handedly destroying the planet?… I’m disgusted. Literally, I’m disgusted,” she added.
Actress Olivia Wilde piled on with a sarcastic post. “A billion dollars bought some good memes I guess,” along with an image of Katy Perry kissing the ground after landing.
@emrata♬ original sound – Emrata
Perry, for her part, shared her over-the-top excitement ahead of the trip. “I’m really excited about the engineering of it all. I’m excited to learn more about STEM, and just, the math about what it takes to accomplish this type of thing,” she said.
She mentioned she was listening to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and reading about string theory in preparation.
“I feel like we are all made of stardust, and we all come from the stars,” Perry continued. “And it will be exciting to see them twinkle from that sight — and also have such an appreciation for Mother Earth when we see it in that way.”
getting off a commercial flight in 2025 #BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/JFvX30Iu3k
— T (@teewatterss) April 14, 2025
Following the flight, Perry kissed the ground in a very cringey fashion and told reporters, “I think this experience has shown me you never know how much love is inside of you. Like, how much love you have to give.”
Luke Bryan, her American Idol colleague, joked about Perry’s apparent emotional reaction.
“Did Bezos serve mushrooms on it? Like, I really want to go to space now!” he said. “It must’ve been quite the euphoric ride through the cosmos, Katy. Maybe she’ll debrief me on those emotions.”
Katy Perry reading a book on string theory and then expecting to understand string theory is like standing in your garage and expecting to turn into a car.
What an incredibly dumb woman. As a woman I’m annoyed. As an engineer I’m disgusted pic.twitter.com/W6McRcWsLk
— Samantha (@SN1onX) April 15, 2025
Kelly and Ungar-Sargon criticized not just the spectacle, but what they saw as a broader cultural shift.
“They realize that they’ve lost the plot, they realize they’ve lost the country,” said Ungar-Sargon.
“Nobody’s going to see their movies, nobody’s watching their TV shows. There’s no purchase for that ostentatious liberal vacuous empty culture anymore.”
She continued, “I think we’re going to look back on this moment as the moment that we started to realize that we were in full-on woke lash and people wanted to return to substance and to unifying messages and to actual entertainment, actual culture that has real meaning for people.”
Kelly added that the mission had a “stolen valor” quality, suggesting the women had tried to claim the same honor as real astronauts without enduring the same risks or preparation.
“We revere our astronauts — our actual astronauts — who actually do put themselves in harm’s way in order to forge new frontiers,” she said.
Can we send her back
— Wendy’s (@Wendys) April 15, 2025
“We’ve seen astronauts — actual ones — die in the name of this service… There have been civilians to go up too. They wear actual space suits. They go through real training, not two days of learning how to buckle your seatbelt.”
“That doesn’t make you an astronaut, OK? Sorry, Gayle and everybody else on board,” she added.
According to Kelly, the wave of criticism isn’t limited to conservative voices.
“All these lefties, all these Hollywood celebs are going on Instagram and elsewhere and expressing their disdain for what these women did and how they’re celebrating themselves,” she concluded.
“They actually seem to have expected a Neil Armstrong-type welcome home and I’m really uplifted by the fact that left… [can] see through this PR stunt farce.”
Watch the full episode here: