Late last Tuesday, in response to Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, Twitter owner Elon Musk did what any well-adjusted, mentally stable person would do when disagreeing with a perfect stranger: He threatened to impregnate Swift. “Fine Taylor, you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life,” Musk wrote in a tweet, which the internet universally panned as pretty much the creepiest thing anyone has ever said.
While Swift has yet to even acknowledge it, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton addressed the "joke" on journalist Kara Swisher’s podcast on Monday. Clinton called Musk’s tweet “rotten and creepy,” and even, in her own words, “kind of another way of saying rape I think.”
Curiously, Musk, who can't seem to shut up and loves to get into fights with Democratic politicians, has been conspicuously silent on Clinton's framing. (I wonder if this has anything to do with national security experts labeling one of his recent "jokes" a literal national security threat!) He did, however, call Clinton's condemnation of political disinformation "concerning" in a post on Monday night—which, as one of the most prolific disseminators of the disinformation in question, of course he finds it concerning!
“I can’t understand why he says what he says. It just is beyond my imagination,” Clinton told Swisher. “For the so-called masters of the universe in the technology world, misogyny is such a part of their worldview, and they gravitate toward toughness and brutality and machoism. And here’s Taylor Swift, a self-made billionaire who brings joy to people and who imparts life lessons, particularly to girls and women. They can’t stand it.”
Welp, I don’t really agree that any billionaire is “self-made,” but I can certainly agree with Clinton's analysis that threatening to impregnate a literal stranger is, in a lot of ways, akin to a rape threat. At the very least, it’s sexual harassment—a behavior Musk has been serially accused of. In fact, this isn’t even his first time allegedly attempting to pressure someone to have children with him against their will. In June, the Wall Street Journal reported on the disturbing case of at least one of Musk’s employees alleging that, in 2013, he repeatedly asked her to have children with him. The unnamed woman declined but remained at SpaceX, and her working relationship with Musk predictably “deteriorated.” She left the company shortly after Musk denied her a raise.
That same report detailed several inappropriate sexual relationships Musk initiated with employees—including one with a significantly younger woman who started working for him as his intern. Before the Journal report, in 2022, Business Insider reported a settlement between Musk and a flight attendant he allegedly touched and sexually harassed. On top of all of this, Tesla employees have lodged several lawsuits against the company for fostering a culture of sexual harassment. At least one woman named Musk’s highly visible inappropriate behavior as a driving force of this culture.
In response to all the justified backlash to Musk’s tweet about Swift, he’s attempted to write it off as a joke—you know, like his since-deleted Sunday “joke” asking why no one has attempted to assassinate Joe Biden and Harris yet, following the second thwarted attempt on former President Trump's life.
In the same interview, Clinton expressed admiration for Swift, specifically naming Swift’s legal victory against a man who sexually assaulted her. “Taylor Swift brings an unusual impact to an endorsement,” Clinton said, explaining, “Her fanbase is so intense and incredibly influenced by her.” And I would be indebted to that fanbase forever if they found a way to take Twitter from Musk.
