As countless people around the world lose their livelihoods as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the super-rich have come under increased scrutiny for their actions during this extremely difficult time. With an estimated wealth of $4.2 billion USD, Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Atlantic, has come under fire for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/12/richard-branson-facing-backlash-over-plea-for-uk-bailout-of-virgin">asking for government bailouts and telling his staff to take extended leave or voluntary redundancy</a>, despite having the personal wealth to solve the problems he is experiencing because of the pandemic. Now, a petition has been created in the UK to strip Branson of his knighthood - which he received in 2000 for services to entrepreneurship - and it has already received 17,000 signatures. Virgin Australia is seeing a $1.4 million ASD bailout from the government:  The petition reads: "'Sir' Richard Branson is a British entrepreneur who is a disgrace to his country. His personal wealth is estimated at £4.2bn "His company Virgin Care SUED the NHS for an undisclosed figure in 2017. Yet he takes 4.5% of all donations given to the NHS through Virgin Giving which has amounted to millions!!! "He also is asking for a £500M bailout of UK taxpayers money for his company Virgin Atlantic 49% of which is owned by Delta - an AMERICAN company! He has also put thousands of staff on extended leave or asked them to take voluntary redundancy." <img class="wp-image-12594185 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2020/04/54668f1d-branson-1.jpg" alt="Richard Branson, billionaire, rubbing his hands together." width="760" height="616" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: PA Images]] The petition continues: "He has also NEVER paid personal income tax since moving to the tax haven British Virgin Islands 14 years ago. "[It's] unacceptable rich billionaires are milking the system in times of national crisis. "Richard Branson is a traitor to his country and should be stripped of his knighthood!" <img class="wp-image-12594187 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2020/04/aa34b155-branson-2.jpg" alt="Virgin and coronavirus." width="760" height="514" />[[imagecaption|| Credit: PA Images]] In an interview with the <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2020/04/22/petition-strip-richard-branson-knighthood-gets-13000-signatures-12594883/">Metro</a>, the petition's founder said: "What he's doing is wrong. You can't beg for the UK to pour money to bailout a half-American company when you're sitting on an island wherever you are not paying tax. The 26-year-old anonymous creator of the petition, who is from Nottingham, said that the petition reflects how resentful people feel about Branson's actions [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/darrengrimes_/status/1252187697453637634]] He added: "You're not going to get him stripped of his knighthood but this is how people are feeling, it's just the level of resentment." You can find the Change.org petition <a href="https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-strip-richard-branson-of-his-knighthood">HERE</a>.

Petition to strip Richard Branson of his knighthood gets 17,000 signatures

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