(The Center Square) – Several Seattle crosswalk buttons were recently hacked to broadcast a satirical message about taxing the rich, raising safety concerns for blind and low-vision pedestrians who rely on the audio cues.
On Wednesday, Seattleites trying to cross streets in certain neighborhoods did not hear the typical “wait” sound when pressing the button to cross. Instead, they heard a voice pretending to be Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos.
The crosswalk messages were removed by the time The Center Square reached one of the flagged locations. However, the message was shared on Reddit.
The message was as follows: “Hi, I’m Jeff Bezos. This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime with an important message – you know – please don’t tax the rich, otherwise all the other billionaires will move to Florida, too. Wouldn’t it be terrible if all the rich people left Seattle, or got ‘Luigi’d’ and the normal people could afford to live here again?”
The message also featured the satirical song “Jeff Bezos” by comedian Bo Burnham.
The term “Luigi’d” refers to Luigi Mangione, suspect in the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December. The case circulated online where the phrase “getting Luigi’d” became slang for violent retribution against the wealthy.
Bezos moved out of his primary residence in Medina, Washington, in 2023 to move to Miami, Florida. He most recently sold his 3.3-acre Seattle mansion off of Lake Washington for $63 million.
Ethan Bergerson, press secretary for the Seattle Department of Transportation, told The Center Square that the department was able to remove the fake walk signal messages in all five flagged locations.
However, while the message drew laughs from pedestrians and people online, SDOT raised safety concerns.
“The audio recordings at crosswalks play a critical role for people who are blind or have limited vision, helping them to cross streets safely,” Bergerson emailed The Center Square. “We are concerned that someone would disregard people’s safety to make a political statement.”
SDOT is working with its vendor to explore stronger security measures to prevent future hacking.
Bezos is not the first billionaire to be mocked by crosswalk buttons. Earlier this week, video shared on social media showed the AI-generated voices of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg at crosswalks in the California cities of Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
The culprit behind the hacks has yet to be identified.
