Jesse Eisenberg, who famously portrayed Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, is sharing his perspective on several tech billionaires pivoting to politics with Donald Trump back in the White House.
The Oscar-nominated actor-director made an appearance on the latest episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, where the host prompted him for his thoughts on the topic.
“You played Lex Luthor in the Superman movie [2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice] and it’s interesting because I see Zuckerberg now at the inauguration and he’s right at the seat of power,” Bill Maher said. “You kind of played Lex Luthor as a tech bro, and you must have some feelings, because you also played, famously in The Social Network, Mark Zuckerberg. What do you make of all that’s going on with the tech bros?”
Eisenberg responded, “I look at it from a very specific perspective, which is if you’re so rich and powerful, why are you not just spending your days doing good things for the world? So it’s hard for me to understand the specifics of what they’re doing.”
“You know, I married a woman who’s like this amazing activist. All she thinks about all day is, ‘How can I help the people who are most in need?’” The Real Pain star and director continued. “So when I watch these incredibly powerful people, I just think, ‘Why are you not spending your day helping people?’” Why are you getting mired into this weird stuff — stuff I don’t really understand — and taking privacy concerns away, hurting people who are already hurting, marginalized people? I just can’t even understand that, so I’m not exactly thinking about them in politics. I’m just thinking, ‘Why are they not spending every day helping people?’”
Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, is among several tech bros, including Elon Musk, who have made moves in recent years to embrace a more conservative administration, backing Donald Trump for a second term, which he ultimately won. Zuckerberg was previously a supporter of more progressive causes.
Earlier this week, Zuckerberg was also among several top tech figures at Trump’s inauguration, including Musk, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, Tim Cook and Shou Zi Chew.
The other guests featured on the latest episode of Real Time were Stephen A Smith and Rep. Ro Khanna.