Grimes weighs in on alleged cage match between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg

‘Dudes need some outlet for trad masculinity,’ the singer said

Grimes has shared her thoughts on the cage fight that is allegedly to take place between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

The singer, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, said that while she “would prefer that it didn’t happen”, she believes it might be a good outlet for “trad masculinity”.

It comes after the Meta CEO said he proposed 27 August as a potential date for the match against the Tesla chief. Zuckerberg said he is “not holding his breath” for a confirmation.

Musk and Zuckerberg agreed to a cage fight over X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, earlier this year. However, whether or not it will actually happen remains to be seen as neither of the tech billionaires appear to have confirmed a date.

In a new interview with Wired, Grimes said she believes it will go ahead, adding: “Elon is very strong, but [Zuckerberg] seems like he’s been training a ton.”

“I would prefer that it didn’t happen,” she added. “I love gladiatorial matches, but watching the father of your children in a physical fight is not the most pleasant feeling. But it’s not going to cause brain damage, so actually I think this is good.”

Grimes explained: “Dudes need some outlet for trad masculinity. I told Sam Altman [CEO of OpenAI] there should be a follow-up, him against Demis [Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind].”

“Trad” means “traditional” masculinity, which refers to society’s conventional standards and expectations for men.

She also revealed that she encouraged Musk – with whom she shares two children – to challenge Zuckerberg to a “literal d***-measuring contest”.

(Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

In July, the SpaceX founder shared a series of explicit posts on X about Zuckerberg, calling him a “cuck” and proposing the contest, alongside a ruler emoji.

In her interview, Grimes said she would “take credit” for the post.

Asked if she told Musk to write the post, she clarified: “No, I was like, ‘Why don’t you cut to the chase and get out a ruler.’ I didn’t think he was going to tweet it.”

Musk and Grimes first met in 2018 through then-Twitter, before making their red carpet debut as a couple at the Met Gala later that year.

They welcomed their first child together in 2020 and named their son X Æ A-12. This year, they changed their son’s name to X AE A-XII to comply with Californian laws.

In December 2021, they welcomed a second child via surrogate, a daughter named Exa Dark Sideræl.

While they share two children, the pair are no longer together. They have been in an on-again, off-again relationship since they met, but Grimes said they broke up after the birth of their daughter. She described Musk as “my best friend and the love of my life”.

This week, Musk said his potential cage fight with Zuckerberg would be streamed on X, adding that “all proceeds will go to charity for veterans”.

He said in a post on Sunday (6 August) that he is training for the match by lifting weights. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg is trained in mixed martial arts and completed his first jiu jitsu tournament earlier this year.

Musk first proposed the fight when he wrote on X that he was “up for a cage match”, to which Zuckerberg responded: “Send me location.”

A spokesperson for Meta later told The Verge that the Facebook founder’s response was entirely serious, adding: “The story speaks for itself.”