“Silicon Valley” followed a crew of lame, socially awkward tech bros. The real Valley leaders weren’t impressed.
Kumail Nanjiani, an actor from the hit 2010s HBO show, said that he met both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. On Mike Birbiglia’s “Working it Out” podcast, Nanjiani described his interactions with the tech CEOs.
Nanjiani said that Musk “didn’t like the show” — and specifically its first scene.
At the start of “Silicon Valley,” Kid Rock performs a rock set with electric guitars and strobe lights. After setting off sparklers, the camera cuts to the audience, revealing a scattered crowd of nerdy tech guys not paying attention.
“Elon was upset,” Nanjiani said. “He was like, ‘Well, the parties I go to are much cooler than these parties.'”
Musk is known to party. In 2023, he attended a meeting with France’s President Emannuel Macron unshaven. Hours earlier, he was spotted on the dance floor of a luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Nanjiani shared his response to Musk’s criticism: “You’re one of the richest people in the world. We’re losers on the show. Of course, your parties are better than my parties. What are you talking about?”
The “Silicon Valley” actor said he met Mark Zuckerberg briefly backstage at an awards ceremony — and the Meta CEO was also unimpressed.
Nanjiani described an awards show for scientists, where he and his costar Martin Starr presented during the peak of “Silicon Valley.” The duo changed their onstage dialogue to replicate a particularly graphic comedy bit from the end of “Silicon Valley” season one.
“[It was] for scientists who many of them don’t speak English,” Nanjiani said. “Almost none of them knew who we were or what the fuck we were talking about.”
The crowd was silent for the entire five minutes of the bit, Nanjiani said. He said that after leaving the stage, Zuckerberg approached him.
“He came up and he was like, ‘What the fuck was that?'” Nanjiani said. “Truly, in that moment, he was right.”
Nanjiani was more accepting of the Meta CEO’s coolness. “I don’t blame Zuckerberg for not liking us,” he said.
Read the full article here
