Grimes and Elon Musk Breakup

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

Overview

Grimes and Elon Musk Breakup refers to the electronic musician Grimes and Tesla CEO Elon Musk officially separating after three years of being romantically involved, which occurred in late September 2021. Throughout their relationship, the couple garnered notable meme attention since their initial debut at the 2018 Met Gala. The news outlet Page Six broke the story of their breakup over Twitter, where it began to trend across all platforms. Users began posting memes about the event, giving it attention over the course of the following week.

Background

On May 7th, 2018, the annual Met Gala was hosted in New York City where Grimes and Elon Musk first appeared as a couple to the surprise of many. The two reportedly had met on Twitter through a joke Musk had planned to tweet but discovered Grimes had already made.^[1] The photo of them at the 2018 Met Gala (shown below, left) inspired multiple parodies relating them to other internet-age goth GF couples like Scott Pilgrim (shown below, right) and Danny Phantom.

During the span of their relationship, multiple memes surrounding the couple, and Elon Musk in general, surfaced online. These included Elon Musk Smoking Weed on Joe Rogan's podcast, the Grimes and Azealia Banks feud, the release of the Cybertruck and Wario Elon from when the two appeared on SNL together, among other meme-examples. The couple also had a child together, X Æ A-12, in early May 2020, who himself inspired meme attention for the pair.

On September 24th, 2021, the news outlet Page Six^[2] released an article titled "Elon Musk and Grimes break up after three years together." The article outlined how the couple deemed themselves "semi-separated" but remain on good terms and continue to co-parent their 1-year-old son." The reason for the split appears to be because of the couple's conflicting schedules and primary work locations. Musk is busy with SpaceX in Texas, while Grimes is primarily in Los Angeles, shooting her upcoming reality show Alter Ego. According to Page Six,^[2] the couple was last seen at the 2021 Met Gala, where Grimes appeared on the pink carpet alone although she met up with Musk inside the event. Page Six shared the article via a tweet^[3] on September 24th, 2021. The tweet (shown below) received roughly 18,900 likes and 14,700 quote tweets over the course of two days.

Developments

With the news initially breaking on Twitter, Twitter users quickly began to post memes about the situation. For example, Twitter user @_fortunecoochie tweeted^[4] about Grimes breaking up with Elon (shown below) and received roughly 6,900 likes over the course of two days.

More Twitter users hopped onto the trend early, circulating ideas about the future of X Æ A-12's custody. Twitter user @vestedvermin shared a tweet^[5] (shown below, left) that received roughly 135,000 likes over the course of two days, using the likeness of Hillary Clinton walking into a room. Additionally, Twitter user @ShounenChild also tweeted something about X Æ A-12 on September 24th. The tweet^[11] (shown below, right) received roughly 1,000 likes over the course of two days.

On September 25th, 2021, Instagram^[8] account @mcdonalds_wifi posted a fake news headline reading, "If Grimes and Elon Musk can't make a marriage work, what hope is there for the rest of us?" The post (shown below) received roughly 3,600 likes and multiple reposts on Instagram^[9] and iFunny^[10] over the course of a day.

Azealia Banks' Instagram Story

On September 24th, 2021, musician Azealia Banks posted on her Instagram story a screenshot of the Page Six tweet, overlaying text on top of it relating to her ongoing feud with Grimes that originated from drama relating to her relationship with Musk. Banks, in her story-post (shown below, left), alluded to wanting to make music with Grimes once again, resuming their friendship. Screenshots of the Instagram story made their way to Twitter, being tweeted by user @marinaxdove on September 24th. Her tweet^[12] (shown below, right) received roughly 58,000 likes over the course of two days.

Okay girl, can we finally make those darn songs now that apartheid Clyde is out of the way? We were supposed to eat those bitches up

#Breaking News Grimes Now Dating X

On September 25th, 2021, Twitter user @ChlamydiaRises tweeted a fake "Breaking News" headline about Grimes now dating U.S. politician Henry Kissinger. The tweet^[6] (shown below, left) received roughly 43 likes over the course of one day. However, screenshots of the tweet quickly spread to Instagram as an exploitable, where users began adding in other people Grimes could be dating instead of Musk. For example, the Instagram^[7] account @muammar_al_saddafi_returns posted an image (shown below, right) on September 25th depicting philosopher Nick Land as Grimes' new partner. The post received roughly 423 likes over the course of one day.