Sometimes, very good-looking and privileged people fail to develop other favorable traits, or fail to shed unfavorable ones. Of course, lots of people are smart, beautiful, and lucky, and God bless them. But, occasionally, when you grow up, say, tall, rich, and handsome, you might not have to work to attract the other (or same) sex, and then you might never develop certain evolutionary pluses, like the ability to overcome adversity, accept defeat, and learn humility. Because, frankly, why would you? Anyway, we’re not bitter about this at all. We’re just saying. That might be the case with Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the identical twins and Harvard graduates who claim they had the original idea for Facebook, and that Mark Zuckerberg stole it. Because nearly nine years later, they’re still talking about the one thing that didn’t work out for them.
Nary a profile can be written about the Winklevoss twins without mention of their formidable hotness and enviable background: “They grew up in affluence in Greenwich, Connecticut,” the New York Times explains today. “They are as physically striking and imposing as they appeared in the film The Social Network. They are 6-foot-5, and their frames are lean and muscular, shaped by years of rowing.” And so on. They’re buff, and, sexiest of all, there’s two of ’em.
But their sculpted physiques haven’t helped them move on. After suing Zuckerberg in 2004 and settling for $20 million in cash and $45 million in Facebook shares, the twins now plan to ask a federal appeals court to undo the initial settlement so they can sue again for more money, “on principle, for vindication.” (Though, in an unrelated incident, they have been sued, too.) And they’re just as mad at Zuckerberg this time around. The Times explains:
Their battle with Mr. Zuckerberg is what has had them riled up. “The principle is that Mark stole the idea,” Tyler said. When they talked about him and told their version of the founding of Facebook, they helped finish each other’s sentences, easily reciting every last detail of a tale they have evidently told time and again. “It shouldn’t be that Mark Zuckerberg gets away with behaving that way,” Cameron said.
As they talked about the Facebook case, no detail was too small to omit, from where they first met Mr. Zuckerberg (the Kirkland House dining room) to the layout of Mr. Zuckerberg’s dorm room, to the content of the e-mails he had sent them. Tyler Winklevoss said: “Mark is where he is because we approached him to include him in our idea.”
Zuckerberg profiles, meanwhile, are quick to point out that the Facebook founder is sweaty, smarmy, and awkward. But, you know, which one didn’t even bother to comment on this story, because he doesn’t have to? Oh, right. And which ones, sixty five million dollars and practically a decade later, are still going on and on about how unfair things can be? Ah, pretty people: Sometimes life is hard for them, too.
