Grimes “happy to denounce Nazi-ism” after Elon Musk’s hand gesture
Canadian electro-pop star Grimes has said she is “happy to denounce Nazi-ism” in the wake of her ex-partner, Elon Musk’s controversial hand gesture at Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Trump had the second Presidential inauguration of his life on January 20th. At one point during the ceremony, tech billionaire and X/Twitter owner Musk, who is deemed key to Trump’s success, took to the stage, and told the crowd: “I just want to say thank you for making it happen”.
After signing off, the SpaceX tycoon then firmly slapped his chest with his right hand and flung his arm upwards in a diagonal range of motion. This left many outraged and has prompted accusations of being a Nazi Sieg Heil or a Roman Salute, which Musk has denied.
Grimes – real name Claire Boucher – shares three children with Musk and is reported to have a fluctuating relationship with him. In March 2022, she described him as “the love of my life” but sued him over parental rights in September 2023. She has been in a relationship with American DJ Matteo Milleri, also known as Anyma, since March last year.
Due to her connection to Musk, some fans have sought clarification over what happened at the inauguration by asking her about it on X. Responding to one fan, Grimes maintained she didn’t watch the inauguration and hadn’t been online to learn about his gesture.
She wrote: “While I deeply respect your concern- it is unhealthy that people are this upset when I have not even been online yet today and am only just learning about this controversy now. I don’t know what happened and I will not make a rash statement – I am not a citizen of this country.”
Grimes said she wouldn’t provide an immediate response as she needed time to “research the state of affairs” and did not want to “say something that will create an international scandal”. However, she asserted that his actions are not hers: “I am not him. I will not make a statement every time he does something. I can only send love back into a world that is hurting.”
A matter of hours later, Grimes replied to another fan, and delivered a more substantial clarification: “I’m happy to denounce Nazi-ism – and the far alt right. Would that help clear things up? I’ve just gotten out of breakfast and have to catch a flight, and am still debating how to approach things diplomatically because I feel in over my head. But if there’s concern about that, I am happy to set the record [straight] in a meaningful way.”
Although the gesture was instantly recognisable, Musk has since downplayed the incident. Posting on X, he argued, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is so tired.”
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