Mark Zuckerberg has an explanation for that time he turned himself into a meme by caking himself in so much sunscreen it looked like a full Phantom of the Opera mask while out surfing. As it turns out, he was trying to trick the paparazzi.
Also he made the observation that that plan totally backfired, so if that’s the first thing that popped into your head (like me) he already pointed it out.
The doofus moment in question happened when he was attempting to relax in Hawaii this past summer. At the time he put so much sunblock on his face he got compared to the ‘60s Joker, Data from Star Trek, mimes, Mrs. Doubtfire with the cake on his face, and Flanders in that skin-tight skiing suit for reasons you could probably figure out if you’re familiar with the meme:
With that out of the way, we can now explain the big question, specifically What was the plan here? He answered that in an Instagram Live discussion that took place on Tuesday.
“I really should have thought that one through more,” he said, according to CNET. “I noticed there was this paparazzi guy following us and, so I was like, ‘Oh I don’t want him to recognize me so you know what I’m gonna do? I’m just gonna put a ton of sunscreen on my face.’ And that backfired.”
This is at least the second time he’s addressed the picture. I’d argue you’re sufficiently caught up by this here article (maybe even overkill), but for the curious here’s a link to his previous comments.
Of this most recent Q&A he went on to say that he learned his lesson. “No one needs to be wearing that much sunscreen,” he continued. He also said that there’s a “delta” separating how cool you think you look versus how you actually look when doing these types of activities. “I’m glad people can laugh about it. I laugh about it and I think it’s pretty funny.”
