The Meta CEO called former President Donald Trump’s fist pump after being shot at ‘one of the most bad-[expletive] things I’ve ever seen in my life.’
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday commended former President Donald Trump’s fist pump reaction immediately after shots rang out and a bullet grazed his ear, calling it “one of the most bad-[expletive] things” he had ever seen in his life.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr. Zuckerberg recalled how the former president stood up after the near-miss on his life, and with the American flag flying in the background, he raised his right arm, pumped his fist in the air, and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” The photograph of that moment has been so widely distributed that it has already been hailed by some as iconic.
“At some level as an American, it’s hard to not, like, get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight. And I think that’s why a lot of people like the guy,” Mr. Zuckerberg told the news outlet.
Despite his praise for the Republican presidential nominee, Mr. Zuckerberg has refrained from endorsing any presidential candidate and said that Meta will “play less of a role” in the upcoming election.
“The main thing that I hear from people is that they actually want to see less political content on our services because they come to our services to connect with people,” the tech billionaire said.
“I think you’re going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past.”
The shooting on July 13 occurred as former President Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Two other people were also wounded in the shooting, while a spectator—50-year-old volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore—was fatally shot before a Secret Service counter-sniper killed the gunman, who had fired a rifle from a rooftop.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, suspended the former president from both platforms following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach but reinstated him after a two-year ban.
Former President Trump has criticized the company and suggested in a post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, that he did not want to ban the Chinese video-sharing app TikTok because doing so would only drive more users to Meta’s platforms.
Janice Hisle contributed to this report.
