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American author and restaurateur Guy Fieri has accused Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos of not donating to his COVID-19 food staffer emergency relief fund.
In a recent interview with Hollywood Reporter, Fieri explained that he had set up a relief fund for restaurant staffers shortly after the pandemic was declared. The Food Network star added that he was angered by the federal government's lack of relief for local restaurant staffers left unemployed during the pandemic.
Over the past year, Fieri sent emails asking CEOs of major corporations to donate to his relief fund, which has raised more than $25 million, according to the outlet. The fund eventually was able to award over 43,000 grants to restaurant staffers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
Fieri said that the fund received significant amounts of money from Uber Eats, PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble, but Bezos allegedly didn't donate.
"I'm not into shaming people and telling who didn't donate, that's not my style," Fieri said. "Jeff, by the way, didn't help us."
Newsweek reached out to Amazon for comment. This story will be updated with any response.
In February, Bezos announced that he will step down as chief executive of Amazon later this year and take on the role of executive chair. The company says Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, will replace Bezos as CEO.
In an internal memo to Amazon employees provided to Newsweek, Bezos said he was "excited" about the leadership transition.
"Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility. When you have a responsibility like that, it's hard to put attention on anything else," he said. "As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions."
Bezos, who has led Amazon since it launched as an online book store in 1994, also expressed confidence in Jassy's ability to lead the company.
"Andy is well known inside the company and has been at Amazon almost as long as I have," Bezos wrote. "He will be an outstanding leader, and he has my full confidence."
The role change will occur in the second half of 2021, Amazon said.
Bezos has amassed a net worth of roughly $201.4 billion, according to Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List.
Amid pandemic lockdowns, many Americans relied on Amazon to deliver goods to their door driving the corporation's net sales up. The company's sales increased 38 percent to $386.1 billion in 2020, compared to $280.5 billion in 2019.
