NBC Announcer Mistakes Jesse Eisenberg For Mark Zuckerberg
In director David Fincher’s award-winning 2010 movie The Social Network, Zombieland co-star Jesse Eisenberg famously portrayed Facebook founder Mark Zuckberg. Although the two men do share a few physical similarities, telling them apart isn’t really all that difficult. However, during the Olympic basketball game between the United States and Spain, one announcer had a tough time telling one from the other.
So, if you thought Facebook CEO Mark Zuckberg had taken some time out of his busy scheduled to enjoy an Olympic event, I’m sorry to report that you, too, are mistaken. According to Yahoo! Sports, Bob Fitzgerald was giving the play-by-play when the camera happened upon Jesse Eisenberg sitting in the stands.
“I know I’m gonna put that picture on Facebook. We’ve got every executive of note worldwide, it seems, attending these games,” Fitzgerald said. Whoops. Apparently the announcer doesn’t watch a lot of movies.
According to Business Insider, this Eisenberg/Zuckerberg debacle was one of many issues viewers had with NBC’s handling of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In addition to complaining about Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira’s running commentary during the opening ceremony, audiences were also annoyed by the network’s use of tape delays, the commentators seemingly obsessive focus on American athletes, and some technical problems with the official NBC Olympics website.
NBC also ran into trouble when they ruined the outcome of Missy Franklin’s 100-meter backstroke victory by airing a promotional spot for the TODAY Show which featured the swimmer holding a gold medal. After angry viewers complained about the unintentional spoiler, NBC quickly addressed the mistake.
“Clearly that promo should not have aired at that time,” NBC Sports explained in a statement. “We have a process in place and this will not happen again. We apologize to viewers who were watching and didn’t know the result of the race.”
What do you think? Is it easy to mistake Jesse Eisenberg for Mark Zuckerberg?
