Most people don’t give crosswalks a second thought, but you’ll want to hear about this one in Seattle’s U District, Washington. An unknown hacker tampered with the pedestrian push buttons, programming them to play prerecorded lines that take jabs at Jeff Bezos and other billionaires. The first person to stumble across the prank was a Seattle resident who pushed the button and was met with the unexpected message. Finding it hilarious, they recorded the moment and shared it on Reddit.
In the clip, you can clearly hear the hacker’s thinly veiled digs at Bezos and Amazon. Here’s the recording:
“Hi, I’m Jeff Bezos. This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime with an important message. You know, please don’t tax the rich, or else 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 then normal people could afford to live here again?”
But that’s not all. The crosswalk message also includes the “Jeff Bezos” song by Bo Burnham. The track takes its own jab at the billionaire, mocking his absurd wealth and the morally questionable actions behind it.
Many Redditors who saw the video found this Seattle crosswalk prank hilarious. They especially appreciated the addition of the Bo Burnham song, which really drove the point home. “Love the Bo Burnham at the end!” one Redditor commented.
Others were fixated on the fact that the word “Luigi’d” was included in the crosswalk message. “Getting Luigi’d being a real phrase in 2025 does rule imo,” another user said. Ever since the shocking incident where an insurance CEO was shot by Luigi Mangione, the name “Luigi” has become somewhat synonymous with pushback against billionaires and powerful corporations.
More Hacked Crosswalks
One of the most interesting comments came from a Redditor who pointed out that this isn’t the only hacked crosswalk. While it’s unclear if the same person is behind them all, there have been other pedestrian push buttons tampered with in different locations.
In California, for example, similar devices have been found mocking Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg instead of Jeff Bezos. This isn’t all that surprising, as both are also widely seen as excessively wealthy.
The Musk recording was discovered in Palo Alto, which was once the location of Tesla’s corporate headquarters before it was moved. The message itself is brief, with the voice ironically declaring that “money can’t buy happiness.”
As for the Mark Zuckerberg crosswalk recordings, they’ve been spotted in Menlo Park near the Meta campus. The message begins with the voice introducing itself as Zuckerberg, then goes on to say that it’s understandable for people to feel uncomfortable or even violated as Meta pushes AI into every aspect of daily life.
