Jesse Eisenberg might have played Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, but that doesn't mean he went easy on him when asked about his opinion of the tech mogul.
The American actor had an insightful answer when TV host and comedian Bill Maher asked him what he made of those who are now known as 'tech bros'.
Essentially, tech bros are at the head of some of the biggest technology-focused companies in the world, the most famous examples being Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
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During an appearance on the latest episode of Bill Maher's talk show Real Time, chat got onto how Zuckerberg was at President Donald Trump's inauguration earlier this week, 'right at the seat of power'.
The Meta CEO was seated with Amazon's own Bezos and Tesla/SpaceX owner Musk, sitting in some prominent seats on Monday (20 January).
Maher went on to mention Eisenberg's role as villain Lex Luthor in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where he is a form of a 'tech bro' himself, suggesting that the 41-year-old must have some feelings towards the subject.
He then asked: “What do you make of all that’s going on with the tech bros?”
Eisenberg answered: “I look at it from a very specific perspective, which is, just like, if you’re so rich and powerful, why are you not just spending your days doing good things for the world?”
Eisenberg mentioned his wife Anna Strout as an 'amazing activist' whose priority is to help other people, which has changed the way he looks at life.
Strout's mother founded the Middle Way House, a nonprofit for survivors of domestic violence, trafficking and sexual assault.
Eisenberg is a volunteer along with his wife, and added: “So when I watch these like incredibly powerful people, I just think like, wait, why are you not spending your day helping people?
“Why are you like getting mired into this weird stuff - stuff I don’t really understand, and taking privacy concerns away, hurting people who are already hurting, marginalised people?”
He went on to admit that he 'can't even understand that', so he's not really 'thinking about them in politics', but rather why the tycoons aren't spending their time helping those who need the help.
He didn't add much more detail to his explanation, though on Tuesday (21 January), he called out Zuckerberg's decision to halt the fact checking system on both Facebook and Instagram.
“Now that the platform is so powerful and owns all these other things, I guess I feel a little bit sad,” he told NPR’s Terry Gross.
“Why is this the path you’re taking?”
Topics: Celebrity, Mark Zuckerberg, Technology
Joshua Nair