Current:Home > StocksLance Bass, Robin Thicke, more went to this massive billionaire wedding. The internet was enraged. -Elite Financial Minds
Lance Bass, Robin Thicke, more went to this massive billionaire wedding. The internet was enraged.
View
Date:2025-04-18 22:59:05
A billionaire's luxury Egyptian wedding has gone viral − and not in a good way.
Real estate broker and Bravo star Ryan Serhant shared an inside look at his experience attending the lavish nuptials of Bilt Rewards CEO Ankur Jain and former WWE wrestler Erika Hammond in a TikTok posted Wednesday. The video has been viewed 3.5 million times and inspired heavy backlash in the comments.
Experts say the rich and famous should expect to stoke ire when they flaunt their opulence and that the strong reactions point to a deeper frustration the average person is feeling toward inflation, inequality and other economic issues.
"A lot of people are feeling like they're stuck and they are living week-to-week, and people are feeling like they're not sure how they can make a difference," psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis previously told USA TODAY. "Those feelings can be directed toward a person, especially when people don't feel like they have a voice or their voice has been blocked."
Why did this billionaire's wedding strike such a nerve?
Jain, who has a net worth of $1.2 billion according to Forbes, and Hammond seemed to spare no expense for their wedding.
The four-day spectacle featured a performance by acclaimed violinist Lindsey Stirling, a private tour of the pyramids and a special event at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which isn't yet fully open to the public. Not to mention the couple arrived late to their own festivities, Serhant says, after they got "stuck on safari in South Africa."
That doesn't even cover the wedding day itself, which involved four different locations: one for the ceremony, one for the reception, one for dinner and one for the party. Among the celebrity attendees were Lance Bass, who took the mic to sing NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye," and Robin Thicke, who also gave a surprise performance.
"Literally will go down as one of the most insane things of my entire life," Serhant says at the end of the video. "I have no idea what this wedding costs. If you have any guess, let me know in the comments, and thanks for coming along."
More:Alyssa Milano's GoFundMe post made people furious. Was the anger misplaced?
Commenters didn't seem to care about guessing the cost; but they did have a lot to share about how their own lives are going by comparison.
"I don't even have health insurance but that's cool," one person wrote. "I sold my couch to pay for food and gas," another wrote. "I just got a 47K hospital bill and no job because of surgery but that's pretty cool!" wrote another.
Erik Anderson, a licensed marriage and family therapist, says there's multiple reasons why people have such a negative view of this wedding, the primary being the wedding serves as a blunt reminder of how different life is for the mega-wealthy.
Many young people today, he says, are grappling with economic uncertainty and the feeling they were born in a situation in which the odds were stacked against them to succeed.
"One thing that's a major driver of people's resentment is the feeling that people are not going to be better off than their parents," Anderson says. "We kind of get into the psychology of comparison and how people measure themselves against other people in their community, including saying, 'Am I going to be better off than my parents or worse off than my parents?' "
Is anyone really OK right now?What Netflix’s ‘Beef’ can teach us about all-encompassing rage
This psychology of comparison, he says, also extends to other people, like Jain and Hammond. Their wedding in particular has struck a nerve, Anderson says, because it also involves the rich renting out exclusive access to things like the pyramids that are otherwise open to the general public.
"I think it really created a symbolic representation of, 'We are taking and then no one else can have, and it also makes us feel special for no one else to be able to have it,' " Anderson says.
When this anger combines with the anonymity afforded by the internet, backlash is almost inevitable, Sarkis previously told USA TODAY.
What our anger says about us
Most people in America face financial burdens, which contribute to mental health problems, Anderson says. The comments on this video, he adds, show this.
"Poverty itself can be a stressor," he says. "We essentially see that wellbeing correlates with income. So, basically, the larger the middle class, the more people there are who have a high level of wellbeing, and the smaller the middle class, the lower the wellbeing in the average population."
More:Conjoined twins Abby, Brittany Hensel back in spotlight after wedding speculation. It's gone too far.
Sarkis previously told USA TODAY it's important to take stock of your feelings when you see a video like this and try and see what's really behind them. You might find you're mad at something much bigger than Jain, Hammond or any particular individual.
"We can have a variety of feelings that come through that we don't necessarily take accountability for," she said. "And we really need to look at what is it that we're angry about, and is there anything we can do to change it?"
veryGood! (134)
Related
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- Panthers are only NFL team with no prime-time games on 2024 schedule
- Struggling Blue Jays aren't alone in MLB's brutal offensive landscape – but 'it still sucks'
- Man convicted of killing 4 people at ex-girlfriend’s home near Denver
- Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
- Justice Dept. makes arrests in North Korean identity theft scheme involving thousands of IT workers
- Want to step into a Hallmark Christmas movie? New holiday event promises just that.
- 11 people die in mass shootings in cartel-plagued part of Mexico amid wave of mass killings
- Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
- Walmart chia seeds sold nationwide recalled due to salmonella
Ranking
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- Netflix confirms 'Happy Gilmore 2' with Adam Sandler: What we know
- Shaken by the Fico assassination attempt, the EU wonders if June elections can be free of violence
- Lawyers discuss role classified documents may play in bribery case against US Rep Cuellar of Texas
- 'As foretold in the prophecy': Elon Musk and internet react as Tesla stock hits $420 all
- Kevin Spacey says he's 'enormously pleased' amid support from Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson
- Haiti’s crisis rises to the forefront of elections in neighboring Dominican Republic
- National BBQ Day: See if your favorite barbecue spot made it on Yelp's top 100 list
Recommendation
Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
Eva Mendes Breaks Ryan Gosling Relationship Rule to Celebrate Milestone
Watch: Brown bear opens SoCal man's fridge, walks off with a slice of watermelon
Surgery patients face lower risks when their doctors are women, more research shows
Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
What is the weather forecast for the 2024 Preakness Stakes?
Ex-South African leader’s corruption trial date set as he fights another case to run for election
Blue Ivy Carter nominated for YoungStars Award at 2024 BET Awards