Larry Summers Approves Of 'The Social Network'

Former Harvard President and Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers has given his stamp of approval to "The Social Network," the Boston Globe reports.

Summers commented on his role in the movie at a recent luncheon.

He said he first heard about Facebook in 2004, when an aide told him to mention something about "friending" in a speech to students. Summers told the aide he would be out of a job if students didn't laugh -- luckily for everyone, they did.

As for his dealings with the Winklevoss twins, he said: "I surely didn't tell anyone to punch me in the face."

All in all, he said, the movie was "fairly accurate."

Summers returned to Harvard at the end of last year to teach.

WATCH:

Comments

[bynddrvn5]

11:18 PM on 03/16/2011

I wonder how accurate Mr. Summers finds the movie, Inside Job?

[PrinceHal]

09:53 AM on 03/09/2011

When reporting that someone describes a movie as "fairly accurate," it's important to tell readers what parts of the movie he's talking about. Summers can only talk fairly accurately about the parts he knows something about. That's not the whole movie. Headlines like this one are neither fairly accurate nor good journalism. It doesn't help when the infinitesimal text barely staggers up to the page on its wobbly hind legs.

[cmr86]

01:55 PM on 03/08/2011

All in all, he said, the movie was "fairly accurate."

Except all of the parts they made up.

[ricchh]

10:05 AM on 03/08/2011

He and Harvard looked like fools in the movie.He did not protect his own students from thievery. Everybody cheated and scammed and deceived everybody. What a disgraceful envirnment.

[journ student]

12:38 PM on 03/08/2011

Agreed. NOBODY came out looking good in that film. One party ended up looking vindictive, petty, sniveling and backstabbing. The party that was technically in the "right" looked like a pair of spoiled, entitled brats throwing a fit, however legitimate their case. Summers looked oblivious to what was going on under his nose.
Our best and brightest, right there. And we wonder how we ended up with a financial system that operates by cheating.

[ikoniqueOS]

10:04 AM on 03/08/2011

So if he would have actually acted like someone with morals instead of placing the kibosh on the twins complaint we could have possibly been saved from Facebook and Zuckerberg?

I would not be commenting if I were him. Some could argue that he is partly responsible for the systematic dismantling of personal privacy by the very guy he protected.

The real question is why?

[ricchh]

10:12 AM on 03/08/2011

I am completely in agreement. I am surprised the twins have not gone after him and Harvard University for the damage that they caused.