Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s patriotic Fourth of July video Thursday drew reward from followers of his unexpectedly fruitful rebrand, but it surely fell flat together with his archrival: billionaire Elon Musk.
The video reveals long-haired Zuckerberg sporting a sublime tuxedo and sipping a beer whereas flaunting an American flag on his beloved hydrofoil, a board that makes use of a wing under the water to maintain afloat. The video, set to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born within the USA” with the caption “Glad birthday, America!” shortly went viral, garnering greater than 700,000 likes and thousands and thousands of views.
The video is a part of a rebrand that has remodeled Zuck from pc nerd to billionaire dangerous boy. In 2021, the Meta CEO was photographed on a board much like the one within the Thursday video and was lambasted for his blue hoodie, shorts, and sunscreen lathered face.
However the new-and-improved Zuck, who wears designer garments and wins MMA bouts, managed to tug off the look this yr, drawing digital applause from followers for his “based mostly” present of patriotism.
Nonetheless, at the very least one influential voice bashed Zuckerberg for the video: his nemesis, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“Could he proceed to have enjoyable on his yachts. I favor to work,” Musk mentioned in a publish on X.
Musk supporter Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports activities additionally jumped in, saying on X that “Zuck will all the time be uncool.”
Musk typically ruffles feathers together with his fellow billionaires, however he and Zuck have escalated their feud as of late. Their battle, which probably began over a blown-up satellite tv for pc, got here to a head final yr when Musk challenged Zuck to a “cage match,” which the Meta CEO later canceled as a result of he mentioned Musk wouldn’t affirm a date. A month later, Zuckerberg launched Threads, a direct competitor to Musk’s X.
Musk nonetheless hasn’t forgotten concerning the canceled cage match and introduced it up once more in a publish on the day after Zuckerberg’s fortieth birthday.
“If solely Zuckerberg had been as powerful (sigh). I’ve supplied to struggle him anyplace, any time, any guidelines, however all I hear is crickets,” Musk posted on X on Could 15.
In April, the 2 lastly fought it out however in a battle of riches, with Zuckerberg passing the Tesla CEO to change into the third-richest individual on the planet. However since then, Tesla’s inventory has rallied and traders have authorized Musk’s record-breaking $45 billion pay bundle, serving to him as soon as once more reclaim the title of world’s richest man, leaving Zuck within the mud. Musk has a web price of $252 billion in comparison with Zuck’s $181 billion, in response to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
