WeCrashed Takes Some Artistic License With SoftBank's Pizza Robot

We don't talk about Zume's Bruno-no-no

Screengrab courtesy of

Listen. I understand that Hollywood movies and TV shows take some artistic license. Real life is boring and a lot less glamorous.

But I had to chuckle during the most recent episode of Apple TV+’s WeCrashed (the story of WeWork) when a robot rolled on screen during a scene set at Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank offices in Japan. The bug-eyed, two-armed robot resembled the old Omnibot 2000 toy from the 80s and, Son explains, made the pizza his guests were eating.

Given when the show takes place and that the robot is an investment from Softbank and it made pizza, I assume it’s meant to be Zume’s robot? In real life, Softbank invested $375 million in Zume in the fall of 2018 (with the promise of another $375 million). Zume also became famous for having robots in its commercial pizza kitchen. And, of course, Zume’s pizza business imploded (like WeWork!) and the company now focuses on food packaging.

Again, I get this is Hollywood and there is artistic license, and for all I…