- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended the eighth-annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony on Sunday night, where he rubbed elbows with musician Lenny Kravitz, actress Lupita Nyong'o, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
- Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, both attended the event, which is referred to as the "Oscars of science."
- Zuckerberg presented multiple awards and smiled for photographers amid increasing scrutiny over recent decisions by Facebook not to fact-check political ads.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has had a rough few weeks.
He had a rocky day in late October testifying in front of Congress, where he spent hours getting lambasted by a bi-partisan committee of politicians. He took a principled stand on free speech that caused hundreds of his own employees to speak out against his policy. And he warned investors that next year is likely going to be even worse.
But on Sunday, Zuckerberg — alongside his wife, Priscilla Chan — spent the evening rubbing elbows with the likes of Hollywood elite: Lenny Kravitz, Lupita Nyong'o, Ron Howard, and many more at the eighth-annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony in Mountain View, California. He was also among some of Silicon Valley's biggest names, from Google cofounder Sergey Brin to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
Take a look:
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan posed for photos prior to the awards — the event is often referred to as the "Oscars of science."
Actress Lupita Nyong'o and Zuckerberg presented the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences to Xiaowei Zhuang.
Beyond Zuckerberg, other tech bigwigs were in attendance — including Google cofounder Sergey Brin (who appeared alongside Lucy Hawking, daughter of Stephen Hawking) ...
... and Google CEO Sundar Pichai and wife Anjali Pichai.
Actor and director Ron Howard appeared alongside YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki ...
... and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi presented an award with actress Thandie Newton.
Former Facebook Vice President of Communications Rachel Whetstone, who now serves as chief communications officer at Netflix, stopped to talk with Zuckerberg and Chan.
It was a rare relaxed moment for Zuckerberg across the last several weeks of negative press, and he appeared to relish it.
If you'd like to watch the full ceremony, you can right here:
//www.youtube.com/embed/FNcnaknGJ4E
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