“Like, bro didn’t even buy a new mattress … Bro doesn’t live like a billionaire. Bro sometimes lives below the poverty line. To the point where I thought, “Can’t we live in a very precarious $40,000 house?”
Published 23 minutes ago
Grimes has come under fire for saying in a recent interview that billionaire Elon Musk lives “below the poverty line.”
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I am sure you know that Elon is one of the richest people in the world, his fortune is estimated at 227 billion dollars. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX, a well-known rocket company recently valued at $74 billion, and is the largest private shareholder in Tesla with a 17% stake.
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Speaking to Vanity Fair this week, partner Ilona Grimes, who shares two children with him, opened up about speculation that the business and tech mogul is living the luxurious lifestyle of a billionaire.
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She began by talking about her relationship with wealth, explaining that some fans turned on her when she started dating Elon in light of her past commitment to being “distant for now.”
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“I feel trapped between two worlds,” she said. “I used to be so far away that I went through a period of life without a currency, living on the street.”
“I mean, when people say I’m a class traitor, that’s not… an inaccurate description,” she said. “I was deeply leftist and turned into a capitalist democrat. Understandably, a lot of people are upset.”
But as the music artist went into more detail about Elon’s spending habits, she claimed he “sometimes lives below the poverty line” – a comment that was met with heavy criticism online.
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“But at the same time… Like, bro won’t even get a new mattress,” she said, detailing the time Elon offered to replace his mattress with one of hers when it had a hole in it.
She said, “Bro don’t live like a billionaire. Bro sometimes lives below the poverty line. To the point where I was thinking, can’t we live in a very precarious $40,000 house? Where the neighbors are like filming us and there’s no security and I’m eating peanut butter for eight days in a row?
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Shortly after the interview aired, fans took to Twitter to call Grimes to her defense.”off the offensiveComments. First, many users have pointed out that a more modest lifestyle is in no way synonymous with living below the poverty line, which is the official measure of “classified as poor” by government standards.
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“Someone is going to break the news to Grimes that being cheap is not the same as being poor, oh my god,” wrote one user.
Is anyone going to break the news to Grimes that being cheap is not the same as being poor, oh my God https://t.co/lAJWwzawnd
In addition to this, several users questioned Grimes’ understanding of poverty, given that she equated it with living in an “unsafe $40,000 house” and “eating peanut butter for eight days in a row.” Of course, living in poverty is a terrible and terrifying condition, with social, economic, and political consequences far beyond what Grimes described.
“Everyone is talking about Grimes baby, no one is talking about how she voluntarily ate peanut butter for eight days in a row and said that she and the billionaire were living below the poverty line,” wrote another.
everyone is talking about grimes, baby, no one is talking about her volunteering to eat peanut butter for eight days in a row and say that she and a billionaire live below the poverty line.
Many fans have expressed concern about the large number of people living in poverty around the world. In 2020, 37 million people were reported to be living below the poverty line in the United States alone, representing 11.4% in one of the richest countries in the world.
“I need Grimes to shut up about Elon being ‘living below the poverty line’ when this dude is a billionaire and kids are starving in every area of the ‘richest’ country in the world,” wrote one person.
I usually love it when two weirdos get together and weirdos get together in love, but I need Grimes to shut up about how Elon is “living below” the poverty line when the dude is a billionaire and the kids are starving in every community in the “richest” country in the world
“Life below the poverty line is a matter of life and death, not your damn aesthetic” – another tweeted.
People soon brought up the subject of privilege, noting that it was incredibly inappropriate to downplay the cost of a $40,000 home as poor, while homelessness rates around the world are skyrocketing amid the global housing crisis.
“Did Grimes really say that Elon sometimes lives BELOW the poverty line, it’s white and [privilege] behind it,” one person tweeted.
Did Grimes really say that Elon sometimes lives BEHIND the poverty line, there is whiteness and privilege behind this 💀🤢
And many users noted other aspects of Grimes and Elon’s lifestyle. Even though the couple may consider their spending habits to be cheap given their housing situation, it is impossible to ignore their other spending habits.
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Considering Elon has seven children in total, including a pair of twins and triplets with his ex-wife Justine Wilson, as well as his aforementioned two children with Grimes, he can very comfortably provide for them all with the help of a nanny and outside sources.
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“Yesterday I tried to read the Vanity Fair interview with Grimes, but I couldn’t even finish. 1 thing should be like this [privileged] that you can outsource carrying your own child, have 24/7 babysitters, fly, etc. But to then say that you don’t have a luxurious lifestyle? God, these people are so disconnected from communication,” wrote one of them.
Tried to read the Vanity Fair interview with Grimes yesterday but couldn’t even finish. First, being so privileged that you can outsource your own child, have a 24/7 babysitter, fly a plane, etc. But to then say that you don’t have a luxurious lifestyle? God, these people are so out of touch with reality.
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