The LGBTQ+ community railed against British paper The Evening Standard for suggesting Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was a "gay icon" after he surprised his wife at her 40th birthday party by replicating Benson Boone's Grammy performance.
Boone, a supporter of LGBTQ+ people, is not gay and has been with his girlfriend, Maggie Thurmon, for about a year.
At the 67th Grammy Awards in February, the 22-year-old singer was up for a Best New Artist Grammy wore a light-blue 1970s-inspired jumpsuit with a plunging neckline and set the stage ablaze singing his hit song "Beautiful Things," which is believed to be inspired by Thurmon.
Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan, is reportedly a fan of Boone.
So the Zuck thought cosplaying Boone would be the perfect birthday surprise.
"Your wife only turns 40 once!" Zuckerberg wrote on X (formerly Twitter) to accompany his video post of his music skit.
Thankfully, Zuckerberg spared us the "aggressive" crotch grab Boone leaned into for his "wardrobe adjustment" at the end of the number.
Following Zuckerberg's tribute, the UK paper published the headline "How Mark Zuckerberg Just Became A Gay Icon."
Written by William Hosie, the article touched on Zuckerberg's changed public persona, writing:
"The real question is why Zuckerberg felt the need to put on such a camp display when, just months ago, he was banging on about the need for more 'masculine energy' on the Joe Rogan Experience."
Hosie continued:
"Could it be that he’s finally realised the laws of online virality are dictated by the gaytriarchy–and all things camp, excessive and unhinged are rewarded over what’s not?”
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Zuckerberg has been met with scorn ever since he joined other "tech bros" and aligned himself with Republican President Donald Trump.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram donated $1 million towards Trump's inauguration, which Zuckerberg attended alongside SpaceX co-founder Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The Zuck also visited Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump in November and mended their contentious relationship.
Trump once blasted Facebook for being "anti-Trump" after the social media company provided material to congressional investigators during the Russia probe tied to the 2016 election interference.
Zuckerberg's recent allyship with Trump influenced sweeping policy changes across Meta platforms, from dispensing with fact-checkers in favor of community notes to now making it acceptable for LGBTQ+ people to be called "mentally ill."
Meta's new hateful conduct guideline now states:
“We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like ‘weird.' "
In response to the Evening Standard labeling Zuckerberg a "gay icon" in light of his hard pivot to Trump conservatism, social media users took to Threads and said, "No thanks."
The gay community was confused.
The community has spoken.
@FrankC164/X
AMC
