Last night was the Webby Awards, the Internet’s award show where online publishers and entrepreneurs get together in a room and pat themselves on the back for a job well done of getting users to click on their shit, whether they like it or not.
The very funny Hannibal Burress hosted, poking fun in his monologue at common Internet themes: The Ice Bucket challenge, World Star Hip Hop fight videos, and, of course, Tinder, which has exploded in popularity over the last few years. You can watch his monologue above. His specific bit about Tinder goes a little bit like this:
“Everyone’s talking about Tinder. They’re saying things like, I got chlamydia from a chick off Tinder, or I matched with this girl on Tinder but she turned out to be a bot advertising a TV show about online dating,” Buress said during his opening remarks.
“Tinder proved that the most important quality in another person is not their personality, but their proximity,” he continued.
“The only way you could make Tinder better is if you were allowed to do it in real life. Like if a girl came up to me in a bar and I was like, ‘No — no — no,'” he said, imitating the swiping motions on the dating app. “But unlike Tinder, we’re only celebrating the winners tonight.”
The humor seems innocent enough, right? Well The Huffington Post caught up with Tinder founders Sean Rad and Jonathan Badeen after the award show, noting that they weren’t laughing at Buress’s jokes about Tinder. Seems like they don’t have a sense of humor when it comes to jokes about their dating app. Via HuffPo:
In a backstage interview, they told The Huffington Post that they believe their app is making a real difference and that jokes diminish its accomplishments.
“I think the world has been changed because of Tinder for very positive reasons,” Rad told HuffPost. “The jokes were funny, but I think at the same time they’re just kind of like a thorn in our spine.”
Asked how Tinder has changed the world, Rad pointed to the app’s most basic function: matchmaking.
“There’s been 6 billion matches that have been made,” Rad said. “In each one of those matches, there’s the potential to change someone’s life. Everyone you meet changes your life in some way. We’ve moved the world a little closer together.”
Boohoo. Come on. Chill with the crocodile tears, guys.
Am I the only one who is a little disappointed to learn that Tinder founders Sean Rad and Jonathan Badeen can’t laugh at jokes about the app that made them millionaires? I get the emotional attachment to something they’ve built and the nobility of their mission, but do they really take themselves that seriously?
Sure — Tinder is a great, revolutionary app for finding love OR hooking-up with strange. It’s a real game-changer. But like all things great and revolutionary, that means it’s easy fodder for jokes — especially since it’s the spark that flames the fire of many relationships (…or just straight up sex). The app has become so commonplace in society that almost everyone who has ever used it has a funny anecdote of Tinder success or failure. Hell, we an entire SECTION of this website dedicated just to Tinder follies.
I’m not sure what there is to be offended by. Buress’s jokes about bots and proximity ring true to Tinder’s millions of users — For every Tinder match that turned into a wedding, there are thousands and thousands of users chatting with spam bots or trying to get laid without having to Uber to another zip code. It’s just part of the experience of being a Tinder user. It’s something people joke about with their friends.
So lighten up, Bros! You’re taking yourselves too seriously. You sound like the stiff tech entrepreneur cliches that Silicon Valley regularly makes fun of. We all agree you created something cool for society.
Consider mockery just another sign of your success.