People have been making fun of Nickelback since the band started all the way back in 1995, so when someone makes a joke about them, it’s not exactly news.
However, wife of Nickelback’s frontman Avril Lavigne has spoken out to make something clear. Apparently making a joke about the Canadian rock band in 2016 is bullying. And she’s not happy about it.
The singer and black eyeliner aficionado, who is separated from Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, took to Twitter Thursday to call out Mark Zuckerberg for making a joke about the group.
Dear @facebook, pic.twitter.com/1SCjWVV9TK
— Avril Lavigne (@AvrilLavigne) December 23, 2016
“Either way, you’re allowed your musical opinion however, your jab at Nickelback is in poor taste,” Lavigne wrote.
She was apparently referring to a video the Facebook CEO posted earlier this week demonstrating ‘Jarvis,’ the artificial intelligence system Zuckerberg created to control his home.
In the video Zuckerberg asks the AI, voiced by Morgan Freeman, to ‘play us some good Nickelback songs’. To which it responds: “I’m sorry Mark, I’m afraid I can’t do that. There are no good Nickelback songs.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHNyfG0YPqA&feature=youtu.be
This is a joke everyone including your dentist and maybe even your mum has made. Even Nickelback make fun of Nickelback.
While bullying can look like many things, somehow, cracking a joke about the infamous rock band in 2016 doesn’t seem to fall under that umbrella.
And everyone is pretty much thinking the same thing:
Avril Lavigne is going to end 2016 in a fight with Mark Zuckerberg over Nickelback.
Some people are having worse 2016s than others.
— Alex Goldschmidt (@alexandergold) December 23, 2016
https://twitter.com/WalkerKenion/status/812105120796344320
are you SERIOUSLY telling me the last beef of 2016 is going to be avril lavigne vs mark zuckerberg?
— gustavo // melodrama (@RamsettPark) December 23, 2016
But Avril Lavigne is calling it out as bullying. Tagging a wide variety of anti-bullying organisations, she wrote to Zuck: “When you have a voice like yours, you may want to consider being more responsible with promoting bullying, especially given what’s going on in the world today.”
If making a joke about Nickelback is bullying, then we’re all guilty.