Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, vice president Al Gore, U2 frontman Bono and more honored the memory of late Apple founder Steve Jobs Monday in New York City at the 16th annual Webby Awards.
Called "the Oscars of the online world," the Webbys are intended to honor online excellence including websites, interactive advertising, online film, mobile apps and more.
As a way of remembering one of the technology industry's pioneers, a tribute video headlined by Obama, Clinton and Bono was introduced by another iconic figure -- Richard Dreyfuss, the man who voiced the famous 90's Apple advertising campaign, “The Crazy Ones.”
Following Webby “five-word speech” format, which boils acceptance speeches down to the fewest imaginable words, Obama praised Jobs “for thinking differently.” He then went, further explaining that “the truth is, when we talk about Steve Jobs, we only need one word: amazing.”
Clinton paid tribute to Jobs too, “For spreading American ingenuity worldwide.”
Bono thanked Jobs, “For saving lives with (RED).” While Vice President Al Gore said “Steve Jobs was insanely great.”
Other pop culture figures who participated in the round-up included talk show host Jimmy Fallon, who said of Jobs that “He made turtlenecks sexy again”; Saturday Night Live funnyman Seth Meyers, “For a handheld Internet”; legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin, “For exploring beyond our reach”; and more.
Dreyfuss caught everyone’s attention by taking a shot at Facebook and Google in his opening words.
"Before we talk about Steve, I just want to say: Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Brin [sic] have you thought of the words 'quid pro quo'? If you're going to take our privacy away from us, why don't you tell us something private about yourselves? And if you're going to change our world, why don't you pay for it, because it's theft," Dreyfuss said.
He then went on to laud Jobs, a man who "wanted to make one statement that defined his company, defined his goals, defined his source point -- where he started from, how he caught and held the attention of a world drowning in loud hyperbolic fraud.”
Actor Justin Long and John Hodgman, the duo known for their series of iconic Mac vs. PC Apple ads -- introduced Dreyfuss, who described Jobs as "the Exception that proves the rule.”
Webby Award executive director David-Michael Davies said the video was meant as a honest tribute.
"It’s really heartfelt, we have a lot of special people who have come both in person and in video to do so, and i hope that we will be able to express what the web has been feeling since we lost him."
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