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Vin Diesel: Facebook Owes Me Billions Of Dollars, But Whatever

Vin Diesel did an interview with Entertainment Weekly, which came out on Friday. Some comments he made about Facebook have been attracting some attention in the days since. When interviewer Darren Fra...
Vin Diesel: Facebook Owes Me Billions Of Dollars, But Whatever
Written by Chris Crum
  • Vin Diesel did an interview with Entertainment Weekly, which came out on Friday. Some comments he made about Facebook have been attracting some attention in the days since.

    When interviewer Darren Franich asked Diesel what he attributes his large Facebook following to, he responded, “Did you ever see the movie Social Network? Do you remember what they said the reason was to make Facebook?”

    To which Franich replied, “To meet girls?”

    “YOU GOT IT!” said Diesel. “And when they made the movie, nobody had a million fans. They were promoting it, like, ‘We came up with a new way for people to check marital status.’ That’s not what Facebook was. That’s not why Facebook would be successful. No one gives a s— about people’s marital status. That’s as dated as MySpace! What Facebook didn’t realize is something very big was about to happen, and that was — for the first time in history, and it’s kind of a fluke they didn’t see this coming — when I jumped on that page in April 2009, I started talking to people. In the realest ways. Imagine if you could’ve been a Facebook friend to Marlon Brando, or whoever your role models are. Imagine, if you were able to Facebook Elvis, and talk to him, and hear from him without the Hollywood of it all. That was the Fast & Furious experience.”

    Diesel said when he started his page, the only person who had a million fans was Barack Obama. It was the first quarter of 2009, just after the President’s inauguration.

    “Facebook used to ask me to come up to their office to explain what the f— I was doing, and why I had so many fans. What was unique was: I never let anyone do a post, I never let anyone post for me in the last four years. My audience knows me so well on the page that if my producing partner’s in the room when I post, they’ll know somebody was around me. That’s kind of cool, that’s how sophisticated they are. Facebook really owes me billions of dollars. But whatever.”

    It’s certainly worth noting, as indicated in the interview, that Diesel was laughing when he said that.

    In 2013, Vin Diesel is still having fun with Facebook fans. For Valentine’s Day, he covered Rihanna’s “Stay” as a gift to them.

    41 million people currently like Vin Diesel on Facebook. 35 million like Obama.

    In the EW interview, Diesel talks about much more than Facebook (including Fast & Furious, Riddick and and Hannibal the Conqueror).

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