Who cares how much it cost?
Taxpayers. Like me.
Sometimes money is meaningless. This is one of those times.
No, it isn't.
An existential war for national survival is a time when money is meaningless. Defeating a humanity ending pandemic is a time when money is meaningless.
Taking a picture of a natural phenomenon, regardless of how awesome, is not.
Was the cost of this picture worthwhile? I suppose so given that the cost estimate I saw was about $20 million total, so it wasn't any more costly than a lot of other things we spend money on that are much less worthwhile. What if had been $200 million? No, not worth that IMO. Certainly not worth $2 billion, or $20 billion. So the idea that taking a picture of a black hole is worth ANY amount of money is ludacris. Unless you are just being hyperbolic, in which case don't be.
