MARK Zuckerberg's attempt to hide his face from the paparazzi spectacularly backfired and instead ended up with countless memes being made from snaps of him caked in sunscreen.
The Facebook CEO was infamously papped in Hawaii on a $12,000 eFoil surfboard last year with an excessive amount of sun lotion slapped on his face.
Social media users were quick to poke fun at the images, with some saying he looked like Batman villain the Joker, while others teased that his looks imitated that Mrs Doubtfire, Michael Myers, and a lizard shedding its skin.
Others photoshopped Zuckerberg's outfit so it looked like he was dressed as a mime.
For the many months that have proceeded the incident last July, question marks have hung over why the 36-year-old was plastered in so much sunscreen.
The answer has now finally be revealed: he thought it would work as a disguise so the press wouldn't recognize him.
Of course, Zuckerberg's attempt failed miserably as the pictures of him zipping about on Hawaiin waters on an electric surfboard quickly went viral.
Although he described himself as a "pretty pale person", Zuckerberg said in a livestreamed chat with Instagram boss Adam Mosseri on Tuesday that he didn't need that much sunscreen on to stop himself burning.
"I noticed there was this paparazzi guy following us and, so I was like, ‘Oh I don’t want him to recognize me, so you know what I’m gonna do? I’m just gonna put a ton of sunscreen on my face,’" Zuckerberg said.
"And that backfired. I really should have thought that one through more.
"That is just way too much sunscreen. No one needs to be wearing that much sunscreen.”
Seeing the funny side of the photo's unfortunate fame, Zuckerberg added that he was "happy to give the internet some laughs".
"If someone wants to post a sunscreen meme, it’s cool," he added.
"I’m glad people can laugh about it. I laugh about it and I think it’s pretty funny."
Zuckerberg sparked hundreds of memes after he was spotted surfing on Hawaiian waters on Sunday, July 19, 2020.
Followed by a security detail, he was enjoying the water sport alongside pro-surfer Kai Lenny.
The billionaire was wearing a blue hoodie and black shorts, but what caught social media users' eyes was the thick layer of white sunscreen.
Earlier that month, the tech CEO had been accused of "colonizing" the island of Kauai.
Hawaiian Mia Brier launched a campaign to stop Zuckerberg from purchasing land on the island of Kauai.
She called him “greedy” for suing locals who own property close to his sprawling $100million estate.
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