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TechElon Musk

Elon Musk’s ex says a cage fight with Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg will be good for his masculinity

Eleanor Pringle
By
Eleanor Pringle
Eleanor Pringle
Senior Reporter, Economics and Markets
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Eleanor Pringle
By
Eleanor Pringle
Eleanor Pringle
Senior Reporter, Economics and Markets
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 9, 2023, 7:08 AM ET
Grimes and Elon Musk attend "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & the Catholic Imagination", the 2018 Costume Institute Benefit at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City.
Grimes, who now goes by the moniker C, says Elon Musk having a cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg could be a good thing for the Tesla CEO. Taylor Hill—Getty Images

Elon Musk’s ex-partner Grimes isn’t looking forward to seeing the Tesla tycoon go head-to-head with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

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Yet the Canadian singer—who now goes by the moniker of C—believes taking part in the bout will nonetheless be a healthy way of channeling his aggression and prove a valuable experience for the father of her two children.

In an interview with Wired published this week, the musician admitted she would prefer the fight, for which an actual date has not been set, didn‘t happen in the first place.

“But it’s not going to cause brain damage, so actually I think this is good,” she added. “Dudes need some outlet for trad masculinity.”

Rumors of the fight began in June when Musk—who has been known to regret tweets sent after hours—published a late-night post on Twitter, now called X, saying he would be “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg. 

A matter of hours later, the Meta founder ominously took to one of his own channels, Instagram, and posted to his story a screenshot of Musk’s tweet captioned “Send Me Location.”

Since then Zuckerberg—who has won medals in jujitsu—has said he’s “not holding his breath” for the fight to take place, having proposed Aug. 26 as the date for the showdown.

Musk however claims he has been training for the fight daily, adding he just needs to get an MRI scan first.

The Facebook cofounder and the X owner became direct rivals in July when Zuckerberg launched Threads, openly confirming it wanted to compete with the older social media platform.

And although the odds seem to be with Zuckerberg according to bookies, Musk’s former partner, whose real name is Claire Boucher, hopes the event will help the two titans respect each other more.

C admitted that she herself had not necessarily aided mutual understanding between the pair, though.

In July Musk tweeted: “Zuck is cuck. I propose a literal dick-measuring contest.” In the Wired interview, C confirmed the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had actually been acting on her idea.

“I was like, why don’t you cut to the chase and get out a ruler?” she revealed. “I didn’t think he was going to tweet it.”

‘Not a pleasant feeling’

Despite optimism about what the fight could mean for Musk and Zuckerberg’s relationship—and confirming she “loves” watching what she describes as “gladiatorial matches”—witnessing the father of her children partake in such a contest will not be a “pleasant” feeling.

Although backing Musk as “very strong,” the mother of two added: “I would prefer that it didn’t happen.” 

Musk and C began dating in 2018 and have split and been reunited a number of times since then—with C telling Vanity Fair last year the pair are “best friends.”

The duo co-parent son X Æ A-Xii (nicknamed X), age 3, and daughter Exa Dark Sideræl Musk (nicknamed Y), age 1, who appear to share some aptitudes with their father. C revealed that they are both “little engineers.”

In the interview, C revealed X had an “obsession” with space, which had her questioning if it was healthy: “We had to stop giving him toys, because if they’re not anatomically correct, he gets upset.”

Meanwhile Y likes industrial shipping. “She’s very strange,” her mother said.

Fortune Brainstorm AI returns to San Francisco Dec. 8–9 to convene the smartest people we know—technologists, entrepreneurs, Fortune Global 500 executives, investors, policymakers, and the brilliant minds in between—to explore and interrogate the most pressing questions about AI at another pivotal moment. Register here.
About the Author
Eleanor Pringle
By Eleanor PringleSenior Reporter, Economics and Markets
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Eleanor Pringle is an award-winning senior reporter at Fortune covering news, the economy, and personal finance. Eleanor previously worked as a business correspondent and news editor in regional news in the U.K. She completed her journalism training with the Press Association after earning a degree from the University of East Anglia.

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