Mark Zuckerberg shed tears, threw shade, and got (mildly) political in a commencement speech to his alma mater on Thursday.
The Facebook CEO and Harvard dropout touched on everything from income inequality to Beyonce to Donald Trump (though he danced around referring to the president by name).
Fresh off a cross-country road trip of staged meet-and-greets, the billionaire seemed genuinely excited to return to the school where he first conceived of Facebook.
“If I get through this speech, it’ll be the first time I actually finish something at Harvard,” Zuckerberg said.
Before imparting any wisdom to the class of 2017, though, Zuck wanted to set the record straight on a few things regarding The Social Network, the Aaron Sorkin movie that unflatteringly dramatized his time at the college.
“That movie made it seem like [Facebook predecessor] Facemash was so important to creating Facebook,” he said. “It wasn’t.”
He got in another dig at his Hollywood portrayal later in the speech.
“No one writes formulas on glass,” he said. “That’s not a thing.”
Zuckerberg tried for the nth time to shut down speculation that he’s mulling a presidential run earlier this week.
That didn’t stop him from regaling graduates with campaign-ready anecdotes from his recent great American road trip.
Zuckerberg is literally talking about conversations he’s had with factory workers and opioid addicts in his Harvard commencement speech.
Michael B Dougherty (@michaelbd) May 25, 2017
mark zuckerberg is now talking about the importance of local communities pic.twitter.com/56FhinLXpZ
Sarah Emerson (@SarahNEmerson) May 25, 2017
Zuckerberg seemed most moved by a story he told about an undocumented student mentee. Recounting the uncertainty the high schooler felt about the future, he teared up in a rare public display of emotion.
Zuckerberg is tearing up right now talking about an undocumented student who he knows and mentors. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him cry.
Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8) May 25, 2017
In that moment, Zuckerberg became president
Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) May 25, 2017
Immigration was one of several political issues on which Zuck opined. He pushed for exploring a universal basic income a policy stance in vogue right now for Silicon Valley moguls and warned of a future of automation.
BOOM.
Mark Zuckerberg just endorsed universal basic income. #BasicIncome pic.twitter.com/0C7gt7a1C9
Basic Income Quotes (@BaseIncomeQuote) May 25, 2017
And what’s a tech think-fluencer speech these days without some veiled Trump disses.
“This is not a battle of nations. It’s a battle of ideas.” – Zuckerberg throwing Trump shade, finally
Kerry Flynn (@kerrymflynn) May 25, 2017
“I don’t want to say his name to get him in trouble.” – Zuckerberg w Trump shade
Kerry Flynn (@kerrymflynn) May 25, 2017
Interspersed among the weightier topics was some Beyonce fandom.
Entire band: “WHY HALO?!”
Kerry Flynn (@kerrymflynn) May 25, 2017
Of course, there were some Facebook plugs specifically the company’s much-trumpeted community compact a.k.a the Zuckerberg manifesto.
Zuckerberg is now pitching his Community manifesto
Kerry Flynn (@kerrymflynn) May 25, 2017
The kid next to me who was reading Snapchat Discover earlier is not just looking at friends snaps during Zuckerberg’s speech
Kerry Flynn (@kerrymflynn) May 25, 2017
The rows of ceremony higher-ups flanking Zuckerberg, whose fashion sense was dated by a century or two for the occasion, didn’t escape anyone’s notice.
We now go live to Mark Zuckerberg addressing the passengers of the titanic pic.twitter.com/yRkZDuiW6K
Rich Arnold (@heyricharnold) May 25, 2017
It’s cool that Zuck’s Harvard speech was attended by his friend and mentor, Mr. Monopoly pic.twitter.com/q9v6YL5Kna
Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) May 25, 2017
Besides all that, there was plenty of boilerplate commencement speech fare to go around.
Zuckerberg: “Our greatest challenges need global responses too. Progress now requires coming together… as a global community.” pic.twitter.com/Ir6o0CwJrH
Cheddar (@cheddar) May 25, 2017
Read more: http://mashable.com/
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