'Don't Eff This Up': Jeff Bezos Says Son Hilariously Gets Harsh Over Amazon's Latest Project Jeff Bezos spoke to an audience at the U.K. premiere of Amazon's long-awaited 'Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' show.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
You could be one of the richest men in the world and there's still one person you'll always have to work to impress — your son!
Billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos spoke to an audience at the U.K. premiere of Amazon Prime's new series, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Tuesday evening to talk about the inception of the show and the responsibility he felt in having the story told correctly by the right people — even thanking the showrunners for "ignoring" his notes on the script at "exactly the right times."
But what really caught the audience's attention was Bezos' hilarious anecdote about his son, 22-year-old Preston, with whom he shares with ex-wife Mackenzie Scott.
Bezos mused about how he "fell in love immediately" with the Lord of the Rings series when he was around 13 or 14 years old and told the crowd he was drawn to the "detailed universe" and "feelings of hope and optimism" as depicted in the series.
He mused that his passion for the series has been passed down to his children.
"My kids have become Tolkien fans as well. In fact, one of my boys, I think, approaches the level of a Tolkien scholar he knows so much about this universe," Bezos told the audience. "And after Amazon got involved in this project, my son came up to me one day, he looked me in the eyes, very sincerely, and he said: 'Dad, please don't eff this up.' And he was right. We know that this world is important to so many people, we know it's a privilege to work inside this world and we know it's a big responsibility."
Many fans of the series were less than thrilled when Amazon announced its new project back in January, roasting Bezos on Twitter after he posted a photo of himself with the show's signage, with many loyal fans comparing Bezos to Sauron, the evil villain in the LOTR universe.
"I want to gatekeep Lord of the Rings from Jeff Bezos," one user even said.
Amazon's Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will have eight episodes and is set to take place thousands of years before the first of the Lord of the Rings movies. Much like HBO Max is doing with its latest Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, the new LOTR series will showcase familiar faces while also introducing new characters as the plot develops.
The first season of The Rings of Power premieres September 1 on Prime Video with new episodes released every Friday.
