The Winklevoss twins, who many will remember for once accusing Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their idea for Facebook as recounted in the 2010 film The Social Network, are once again making headlines after putting on a concert just days after laying off 10 percent of their crypto start-up’s staff following the bitcoin crash. What’s got them trending with a viral video is their song choice, delivering a cringeworthy performance of Journey‘s ’80s hit “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which feels quite tone deaf after their recent business exploits.
The video was posted by an audience member using the Twitter handle Arch Nem this past Thursday after the brothers put on a concert under their band name Mars Junction at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In the clip, seen below, Tyler Winklevoss is delivering the off-key vocal performance of the usually inspirational Journey track while his brother Cameron is playing guitar on the song.
In posting the video, Arch Nem wrote, “It’s by far one of the strangest and most tragically hilarious/infuriating things I’ve ever witnessed. these are the twins that sued zuckerberg over fb. they’re *literally billionaires* and rolled up to *the wonder bar* in separate tour busses (crew were in a van) to play shitty cover songs and peddle n~f~t’s as merch.”
A little later, the poster clarified that the brothers arriving in buses was something he had heard and not seen in person.
The tour stop came just a week after the twins had laid off 10 percent of the 1,000 workers at their crypto start-up coming Gemini, citing the “current macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil.” According to the New York Post, the brothers had said in a note to employees, “Today is a tough day, but one that will make Gemini better over the long run. Constraint is the mother of innovation and difficult times are a forcing function for focus, which is critical to the success of any startup.”
There is also currently a lawsuit against Gemini by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission accusing the company of making false and misleading statements concerning a bitcoin futures contract the firm was pursuing in 2017.
Bloomberg has reported that their fortunes have dropped to about $3 billion each after the recent crypto crash, down from a previous high of $5.9 billion.
“It’s funny that they have that much money but didn’t shell out for realtime autotune … or choreography lessons,” stated one commenter on the post. Another offered the Robert Downey eye roll alongside the comment, “They’re playing ‘Don’t Stop Believin” because of course they are.”
The set also included covers of The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Can’t Stop,” and at another recent show they took on Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name.”
Mars Junction are actually touring at the moment, with more dates scheduled for the West Coast later this month, and two New York shows in early July.