People from all corners of social media were having fun Wednesday with the possibility that Elon Musk and Grimes were having a baby together after the singer, whose real name is Claire Boucher, posted a photo on Instagram that appeared to announce that she is pregnant.
Grimes’ initial photo of herself violated Instagram’s nudity ban, the Verge reported. So she posted another in which she also was nude but indicated that she had covered herself up a bit by perhaps strategically letting her braids fall across her nipples. But her nipples were not the focus of people’s curiosity; it was her naked torso over which was Photoshopped the image of a fetus.
Of course, Grimes, 31, didn’t come out and say that she was pregnant, though she sure made it sounded like she was, when she replied to someone’s comment: “I thought about censoring them for a hot minute haha (this may get taken down anyway) but the photo is much less feral without the nipples. Plus being knocked up is a very feral & war-like state of being. Might as well be what it is.”
Grimes also didn’t go anywhere near addressing whether the father could be the Tesla CEO, whom she’s been dating since 2018.
The Business Insider reported that Grimes is known for trolling. The photo, and what it hints at, could simply be promotional for her new album, “Miss Anthropocene,” which is coming out in February. Musk didn’t tweet any announcement himself, and representatives for him and Grimes did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But the gossip site Just Jared, citing “sources,” said it had confirmed that the singer is pregnant.
The lack of any hard confirmation of a pregnancy or a possible baby’s paternity didn’t stop people from assuming that the tech billionaire, 48, and the idiosyncratic pop star were expecting.
Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang was among the many to congratulate the couple.
Congrats @Grimezsz and @elonmusk – that’s amazing!
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) January 9, 2020
Others took to social media to contemplate the baby winning some kind of genetic lottery by sharing the genes of its innovator father and artist mother.
“Congratulations on your pregnancy your offspring will be a genius too,” someone wrote on her Instagram account.
But then the inevitable jokes and memes emerged, with some wondering whether the couple would blow up the moon for their gender-reveal party or whether the child would get a Tesla for its 16th birthday. Azealia Banks also figured into the conversation:
Grimes' baby when her mom's on tour pic.twitter.com/bDjHAOrc6P
— Ezra Koenigger (@snidelaughter) January 8, 2020
Musk and Grimes began dating in 2018 after bonding on Twitter over some obscure, inside joke. They made their debut as a couple at the Met Gala in May 2018, during which Grimes wore an outfit that Musk helped design.
In November, a blond-wigged hologram woman, who looked a lot like Grimes and bore a similar leg tattoo, appeared on stage at the Nov. 21 Cybertruck launch in Hawthorne, California.
Cybergirl, who was never officially identified, introduced Musk to the crowd by saying, “Los Angeles, November 2019. The skies are polluted. The world is addicted to oil. But we’re here to offer a solution: the Cybertruck.”
Several weeks later the couple rode in a Cybertruck to the Nobu restaurant in Malibu, then turned up as guests at the annual Kardashian family Christmas Eve party — perhaps signaling that their relationship was still going strong.
Kim Kardashian posted a photo of her and West with Musk and Grimes, along with Migos rapper Quavo, his girlfriend, rapper Saweetie, and Travis Scott, sister Kylie Jenner’s ex-boyfriend who also is the father of her daughter, Stormi.