Grimes Has Defended Elon Musk’s Massive Political Donations To Conservatives

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Elon Musk.

First, he tried to save the Thai soccer team stuck in a cave with a dumb-as-hell submarine. Then he threw a tantrum and called a diving expert a “pedo”. And most recently, he was slammed for donating almost US $90,000 ($121,250) to the Republican party last year.

Musk’s donations are particularly eye-raising given his outspoken environmentalism, which isn’t exactly the Republican party’s strong suit. Most egregious is the USD$50,000 (AUD$67,000) donation to Protect The House, a Republican group created to maintain the party’s house majority overseen by Kevin McCarthy, who staunchly believes this whole climate change business is bull.

Musk has responded to the criticism himself, arguing that donating to both parties is necessary to keep an “open dialogue”. Musk donated USD$13,990 ($18,840) to Democrats in the same period, meaning his donations to the Republicans were about seven times greater than to progressive groups.

Grimes’ (née Claire Boucher, aka c, the symbol for the speed of light) fans weren’t having it. Given that the alt-pop hero once had ‘anti-capitalist’ in her Twitter bio, they’re still a little shaken by the moral implications of her relationship with Musk in the first place.

That’s why every Musk gaffe is followed by tweets to Grimes asking her to “break up with him”. Earlier this week, Grimes responded:

 

Once he had Grimes’ attention, this Tweeter elaborated on his demand, pointing out Musk’s hypocrisy in donating to Republicans. A day later, Grimes replied with a weary-eyed answer, saying that “it’s the price of doing business in America”.

“Every aerospace company has to donate to republicans in order to function,” she wrote. “In fact, most major companies across the board do, in some capacity. It’s the price of doing business in America. [Musk] donates way more money, like absurdly more, to environmental causes.”

every aerospace company has to donate to republicans in order to function. in fact most major companies across the board do, in some capacity. it’s the price of doing business in america. e donates way more money, like absurdly more, to environmental causes

— Grimes (@Grimezsz) July 23, 2018

Additionally, in a since deleted (but archived) Tweet, Grimes also responded to repeated criticism that Musk had blocked workers at Tesla from unionising. While she’s previously called those reports “fake news”, her new Tweet says that she herself “literally tried to instigate [a] union vote so y’all wud lay off”, but that she couldn’t get enough signatures.

In a Twitter thread, L.A. Times journalist Matt Pierce has detailed his skepticism about the logistics of Grimes’ claim, and is now seeking out workers who were approached by the musician.

uhhhh if you work for Tesla and Grimes contacted you about forming a union, please, please email me [email protected]

— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) July 26, 2018

Amid this, Grimes is currently finishing her fourth album, her first release since 2016’s critically accalimed Art Angels. Hopefully, as one Tweeter suggested, this very confusing relationship is simply all part of a conceptual album called The Price Of Doing Business In America.