'CALLED' OUT FOR HIS B'DAY
Mogul’s ad ‘gift’ to pal
New Yorkers were doing double takes in Chelsea on Friday after a mysterious billboard went up on 11th Avenue picturing a man in a lobster bib under the message, “Today’s my 40th and I am lonely. Call me.” Turns out the bibbed man is hospitality entrepreneur Will Makris, and the ad, which included a cellphone number, was a joke gift to him from his close friend Michael Rubin, the billionaire chair of the Fanatics sports-apparel retailer and co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers. Rubin revealed he was behind the prank on Instagram Friday. “Wanted to give my brother [Makris] a 40th bday present he’d never forget!!!” he wrote along with a photo of the ad.
“This is an actual billboard on 26th and 11th in NYC . . . . thought he was feeling lonely today and needed a lot of love. Ps make sure everyone calls him so he doesn’t feel 40 and unloved!” Makris is the executive behind the Zero Bond club in Noho and Lola Taverna restaurant in Soho.
As soon as the sign went up, Makris’ phone was flooded with calls “from all over the world,” he told Page Six. “It’s crazy,” he said. “I woke up this morning, and I guess they were putting it up,” Makris recalled. “People started sending pictures to me, being like, ‘Happy birthday. Hope you’re not alone.’ Complete strangers.”
He said the messages were “mostly nice,” with “a couple people with business opportunities.”
Some tried to get to the sports-apparel mogul behind the billboard, telling Makris, “Happy birthday. Can you send this to Michael Rubin? Hope you’re not lonely now,” he said.
As far as having his phone number made public, Makris was taking it all in good fun.
“You’re only 40 once . . . I’ll take the smile with the beating,” he said.
But, he said, “I’ve had this number for a long time, so I hope this will die down.”
Before Rubin revealed himself as the prankster, the only clue as to the billboard’s origin was the words, “This ad is brought to you by Pancake Productions.”
Makris is said to refer to Rubin as “Pancake,” after one of Rubin’s favorite foods.
Makris was spotted at Super Bowl LV Sunday in Rubin and Robert Kraft’s private suite at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., along with Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez, Cardi B, Offset, Meek Mill, Aaron Judge and other A-listers.
Makris summed up of the billboard experience: “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”
Zero Bond, which Makris coheads with former nightlife king Scott Sartiano, is reopening this month.