Celebrating American independence is a different experience for everyone. But some displays of patriotism are more roast-worthy than others, and Mark Zuckerberg learned that the hard way this July 4 when a video he posted to Instagram went viral for all the wrong reasons.
On Sunday, Zuckerberg posted a video of himself holding an American flag while riding a foilboard, a surfboard-like device with a fin in the water that can lift the rest of the board off the surface if it’s being pulled fast enough. For more than a minute, Zuckerberg rides the device while waving the flag as John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ played.
Happy 4th 🇺🇸 from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg… pic.twitter.com/lEPBMBVTaV
— Zamaan Qureshi (@zamaan_qureshi) July 4, 2021
The video isn’t quite Sweet Baby Rays awkward, but it’s long enough to go from mildly interesting to overwrought in a hurry. Then there’s that weird little hopping thing he’s doing on the foilboard, which is tough to make look particularly cool no matter how nice the sunset is in the background. And when the video was posted to Twitter, once it was confirmed to be real, the roasting got underway.
Prior to releasing this video Zuckerberg purchased John Denver’s corpse to keep it from rolling in its grave. https://t.co/cgDgKun1m5
— Pool Ladder, MD (@_ladder_MD) July 5, 2021
Someone told Mark Zuckerberg to act totally normal for July 4th https://t.co/795YWFigjA
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) July 4, 2021
I wish they could bring John Denver back to life just so he could sue Mark Zuckerberg for this.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) July 4, 2021
Facebook’s PR team spent years trying to craft Zuckerberg’s image, which is funny because the strategy now seems to be “let the dude let his freak flag fly” https://t.co/XwFKJuUeZS
— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) July 4, 2021
The ocean: Billionaires: pic.twitter.com/dkvr2R4eXs
— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) July 4, 2021
Several people took out the John Denver and added their own, more appropriate soundtracks to the film. Like the final monologue from American Psycho, for starters.
https://twitter.com/keithedwards/status/1411812144316825601
Fixed pic.twitter.com/iypAsy3eCi
— John Frankensteiner (@JFrankensteiner) July 5, 2021
The Jaws one was particularly well-done.
JAWS reboot with Mark Zuckerberg
Happy 4th of July pic.twitter.com/c5M5qKb4p5
— Jim Cunningham (@J1MCUNN1NGHAM) July 5, 2021
Many people pointed out the various ways that Facebook has actually done real harm to America in recent years, such as being a breeding ground for misinformation that’s undermined elections, spread QAnon conspiracy theories and led to the January 6 insurrection attempt at the US Capitol. But, hey, at least this billionaire had a nice holiday I guess.