If you happened to open any social media app on Sunday, you surely noticed scores of posts about Father's Day. But none, surely, as weird as actor Vin Diesel's.
Diesel's Father's Day post has left the internet scratching its collective head after the actor rambled about, among other things, wanting to have dinner with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The post features an AI-generated piece of concept art for the forthcoming installment of the Fast & Furious franchise Diesel has starred in since 2001.
Diesel has since edited his bizarre caption, but screenshots have of course been posted online of the original diatribe. And it's a doozy.
Diesel wrote in his caption that he spent Father's Day in Europe location-scouting for the next installment of the other film franchise he headlines, Riddick: Furya.
"Happy Father's Day to you all... while location scouting in Europe for Riddick, the concept art from Fast X Part 2 keeps pouring in. Wait until you see the American road trip. Haha."
Okay, normal enough, right? But then the original caption took a hard left—so much so that Diesel has since edited away all the weirdness.
But screenshots have of course been posted online of the original diatribe, which is... well, very interesting, to say the least.
@claykeller/X
The original caption went on to say:
"On a side note… I saw warships off my country’s shores. Hmmm. I’m not the Tucker type…. "
Diesel was presumably referencing the flotilla of Russian warships that passed by Florida en route to Cuba, reportedly for military exercises.
As for "Tucker," nobody has any idea who that is in reference to and Diesel hasn't said, but many theorized it was former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Conservative media pundits have been outraged about the flotilla, holding it up as a sign of President Joe Biden's supposed weakness.
Diesel had a different idea than blaming Biden, however.
He went on to say in his caption:
"As a father my kids live in that country. Hmmm."
"Putin, I will fly to the Caribbean. Come have dinner. Let’s not let foolishness dictate the future."
Um...okay? Great sentiment and whatnot but respectfully, Mr. Diesel...what?
People on social media were definitely confused by Diesel's invitation to Putin, which instantly went viral.
Diesel seems to have a bit of a fixation with the Russian President. In 2022 he went viral for addressing Putin on Instagram in a similarly, though more succinctly, bizarre fashion.
And back in 2014, Diesel invited Putin to participate in the then-viral "Ice Bucket Challenge" to benefit research and treatment of ALS.
Putin unsurprisingly, via spokesperson, declined.
So far, he has given no response to Diesel's since-deleted dinner invitation.
