Apartheid Clyde

Submission 4,997

Part of a series on Elon Musk. [View Related Entries]

About

Apartheid Clyde is a pejorative nickname given to entrepreneur Elon Musk by American rapper Azealia Banks. The nickname was coined by Banks in January 2019 when the rapper feuded with Musk over getting unwillingly involved in his fraud case and references Musk growing up in South Africa during the era of apartheid in the country and the claims that his family profited from owning a share in an emerald mine in the 1980s.

Origin

In August 2018, a feud between rapper Azealia Banks and entrepreneur Elon Musk and his then-girlfriend musician Grimes broke out after the former was invited to Musk's house to collaborate on music, which was derailed by Musk's "Funding Secured" tweet,^[7] among other things. The feud continued for several years, resulting in mutual insults between Grimes and Banks on social media and Banks posting multiple Instagram stories painting Musk and Grimes in a negative light.

On January 5th, 2019, Azealia Banks posted a story in which she referred to Musk as "Apartheid Clyde," a reference to Musk growing up in South Africa during the era of apartheid and his father, Errol Musk, owning a 50 percent share in an emerald mine in Zambia.^[1] On that day, several users on X^[2] / Twitter posted about Banks calling Musk "Apartheid Clyde." For example, a post by user @zestyjessee (shown below, left) garnered over 560 reposts and 3,700 likes in five years. Another X^[3] post, made by user @PasticheLumumba, gained over 380 reposts and 2,500 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

Spread

The nickname did not see significant use until September 24th, 2021, when Banks posted a story about Elon Musk and Grimes' breakup, again referring to Musk as "Apartheid Clyde" in her Instagram Story (shown below, left). On the same day, X^[4] user @nicholasdante_ posted a screenshot of Banks' Story, with the post garnering over 4,100 reposts and 44,300 likes in two years (shown below, right).

In the following years, the nickname coined by Banks achieved significant popularity on X / Twitter, with multiple posts in which users referred to Musk as "Apartheid Clyde" going viral on the platform. For example, on April 26th, 2022, X^[5] user @9BillionTigers made a post that garnered over 17,900 reposts and 180,000 likes in one year (shown below, left). On November 1st, 2022, X^[6] user @chescaleigh made a post about Twitter $8 Blue Checkmark in which she used the nickname. The post gained over 1,500 reposts and 10,000 likes in one year (shown below, right).

Space Karen

Space Karen is a pejorative nickname for Tesla founder Elon Musk, which combines the name of Musk's private space exploration company Space X with Karen, a meme character representing an antagonistic, overly entitled woman. The nickname is often associated with a photoshopped image of Musk superimposed with a "Speak to the Manager" haircut. In November 2020, Space Karen trended on Twitter after a user called Musk the nickname in response to his tweet questioning the validity of a coronavirus rapid antigen test.