Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s dating advice for young men has gone viral — as thousands of social media users ruthlessly mock his bizarre pick-up line.
Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital Management and a major MAGA donor, said he is concerned about a trend of young men struggling to meet women in public due to internet culture.
“As such, I thought I would share a few words that I used in my youth to meet someone that I found compelling. I would ask: ‘May I meet you?’ before engaging further in a conversation,” Ackman wrote in a post on Saturday.
He claimed the pick-up line “almost never got a No,” adding that “the combination of proper grammar and politeness was the key to its effectiveness.”
“Just two cents from an older happily married guy concerned about our next generation’s happiness and population replacement rates.”
Users online quickly turned the dating advice into a meme – jabbing at the pick-up line’s apparent success rate — or lack thereof — in dozens of posts.
“May I meet you?” a user wrote in a post with a photo of comedian Shane Gillis leering into the camera.
Another added the pick-up line to an awkward interaction caught on camera at a sports game where a woman held up her palm to reject a man sitting next to her – “talk to the hand”-style.
“‘May I meet you’ from a 6’3” hedge fund billionaire,” another user wrote next to a photo of actress Sydney Sweeney smiling, “vs. ‘May I meet you’ from a 5’8” junior banker clearing $160K total comp,” the user added next to a shot of Sweeney scowling.
Another user added a screenshot of the dating app Hinge showing the message “May I meet you?” sent to five women – without a single response.
Yet another user sarcastically added the line to a video of a man surrounded by women hugging him and asking for photos: “Life after saying ‘May I meet you?’”
In another post, the pick-up line appeared next to a photo of a man standing in the corner of a party surrounded by groups of women ignoring him.
