Deep breath. OK, here goes. It would be hard to miss the news, but in case you did, here's the short version: Late Thursday, Jeff Bezos took to (of all places) Medium to detail what he called blackmail by The National Enquirer. In the post, the Amazon CEO alleges that he received threatening messages from the tabloid and its parent company, American Media Inc., detailing how it would release intimate photos of Bezos (including a “below the belt selfie”) if he didn't halt an investigation into how the Enquirer got his private messages and publicly state that the paper's coverage of him wasn't "politically motivated."

Related Stories

On Friday, a representative for American Media issued a statement saying the company “believes fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos” and that AMI's board has determined it should investigate the matter and “take whatever appropriate action is necessary.” (My colleague Louise Matsakis has a more thorough explanation of what happened here.)

Taken on the whole, the entire story is mind-blowing. Not only is one of the world's richest men, Bezos, alleging extortion by one of the world's most famous tabloids, AMI's chair is David Pecker, friend of President Trump, one of the world's most powerful men and frequent subject of scrutiny by Bezos-owned news outlet The Washington Post. Add in the fact that this started when the Enquirer published a report in January revealing what is claimed was an extramarital affair by Bezos, and this has every layer of intrigue imaginable—Scandal! Political intrigue! Double entendres galore!

Naturally, Twitter was enthralled—and has been since last night and well into this morning. Below are some of the best reactions to the ongoing controversy—starting with Bezos' original post.