Like many others, Elon Musk’s estranged daughter was “disgusted” by her father’s “abhorrent” offer — or “threat” — to impregnate Taylor Swift after the pop megastar upset him and other Donald Trump supporters by endorsing Kamala Harris, following Trump’s poor presidential debate performance Tuesday night.
Vivian Jenna Wilson’s outrage came after the Tesla CEO posted his “creepy” X message to Swift, who had referred to herself as a “childless cat lady” in her Harris endorsement.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 24: Tesla CEO Elon Musk (C) listens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of Congress in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on July 24, 2024 in Washington, DC. Netanyahu’s visit occurs as the Israel-Hamas war reaches nearly ten months. A handful of Senate and House Democrats boycotted the remarks over Israel’s treatment of Palestine. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life,” Musk wrote on his X platform, possibly trying to be clever but in his usual, “painfully unfunny” way, as New York magazine said.
On Threads, Wilson first praised Harris for “demolishing” Trump in the debate. She then applauded Swift for “the timing” of her endorsement of the former San Francisco prosecutor’s campaign to become America’s first female president — just minutes after Harris and Trump stepped off the debate stage in Philadelphia. “Can’t wait to see the Swifties at the polls! Vote blue,” Wilson said, punctuating her post with two blue-heart emojis.
Wilson then acknowledged “the tweet,” which both New York magazine and Rolling Stone said could be seen as a threat. The “tweet” was her father’s reaction to Swift’s endorsement and his “sexist” twist on her self-declared “childless cat lady” status. The infamous “childless cat lady” phrase comes from Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance and his past statements that demeaned women, cat owners and couples without children.
“Also, yes, I saw ‘the tweet,’” Wilson said on Threads. “Heinous incel nonsense is in fact heinous incel nonsense. I don’t really have anything to add to it, it’s just abhorrent. That much is obvious and if you don’t see how then you’re part of the problem. I would just like to say to my audience members, don’t let people talk to you like that. It’s disgusting, it’s belittling and incredibly sexist. You deserve better.”
Wilson’s response to her father’s post is no doubt informed by her own difficult experience with being one of the 12 children he has fathered with three different women. The 20-year-old, who is transgender, has accused Musk of being an absent father and a “serial adulterer” who treated her cruelly for being too “feminine.”
FILE – President Donald Trump, right, talks with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk at the White House in Washington, Feb. 3, 2017. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Wilson’s concerns were echoed by a New York magazine breakdown of Musk’s comment about impregnating Swift. With his specific statement, “I will give you a child,” New York magazine said “there’s a lot going on.”
As Wilson suggested, Musk is essentially sexually harassing Swift on X for expressing a political opinion, with New York Magazine pointing out that the billionaire has previously been accused of sexual misconduct — which he’s denied. But Musk’s remark also ties in with “other weird and unsettling things” the billionaire has said and done, New York Magazine said.
Musk is obsessed with low birth rates, New York magazine explained. This obsession has led to him to think he is a great paternal figure and global visionary who should populate the earth with as many of his offspring as possible. It also has led him to spread the “great replacement theory,” New York magazine added. This is a white-supremacist conspiracy theory that holds that national policies that are welcoming to nonwhite immigrants are a plot, designed to undermine or “replace” the political power and culture of white people living in Western countries.
New York magazine argued that there is indeed a racist angle to Musk’s response to Swift. On one hand, his statement, offering to “guard your cats with my life,” could be interpreted as Musk joking about being the big, strong man who will protect her and her beloved pets. But the statement also touches on the idea that he’ll protect her cats “from migrants trying to eat them,” New York magazine said.
His statement echoes the latest racist, right-wing conspiracy about Haitian immigrants, which was first spread by Vance and amplified by Trump at the debate when the former president said, “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats.” This theory claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are kidnapping and eating pets.
On Sunday, Musk did his part in helping spread the conspiracy theory by sharing an X post from conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who also said that Springfield residents are losing their family pets to hungry Haitians — “another gift of the Biden-Harris mass immigration replacement plan.”
Musk wrote, “Apparently, people’s pet cats are being eaten.”
While Musk continued to doubled down on the conspiracy theory, Swift was indeed “winning” the post-debate news cycle in various ways — as Musk acknowledged and may fear.
The “Fortnight” singer cleaned up at the MTV Video Music Awards Wednesday night, winning seven awards, including the top prize of video of the year. The honors makes her the solo artist with the most career VMA wins, and the artist with the most video of the year wins.
Swift ended her speech for the video of the year award by urging fans to vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election, a follow-up to her Harris endorsement, in which she also encouraged people to register to vote if they haven’t. The link to Vote.org that Harris provided with her endorsement attracted more than 330,000 visitors to the government website in the 12 or so hours after she posted her message on Instagram.
