
The biggest talking points about Elon Musk from Grimes's revealing interview
Grimes has recently opened up about her relationship with ex-boyfriend Elon Musk, who is the father of her three-year-old son X Æ A-XII and one-year-old daughter Exa Dark Sideræl also known as "Y". During the in-depth interview with WIRED, the Canadian musician - whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher - told the interviewer "You get one Elon question," when the Space X, and Tesla CEO and Twitter owner and CTO was mentioned. However, the Oblivion singer covered everything from what she and Musk have learned from each other to her thoughts on the alleged cage fight anticipated to take place between Musk and Meta found Mark Zuckerberg. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Here are some of the biggest talking points from the WIRED interview: What she and Musk learned from each other Grimes described her time with Musk as "the best internship ever," and how "incredible" it was to witness everything he's doing with Space X. "That’s a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality," she said. She also said she believes she helped Musk to "have more fun," "soften him up" and "build family culture". She added: "And he steals a lot of my memes." On Musk and Twitter Recently, Musk has made headlines with the different choices he's made since he acquired Twitter. The company has consequently gone under some changes, from firing 80 per cent of the entire workforce to changing the name of the social media platform to 'X'. "He didn’t build the culture there. And the cultural fit has obviously been very intense," Grimes said. She noted how Musk has really high standards and the difficulty of his role "to be a great general and do something of that magnitude". The musician went on to say: "Elon has an old-world kind of discipline I really respect. And I think it rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They don’t want to be in that hardcore zone. If you’re not consenting to being in that hardcore zone, I get it." Grimes thinks Musk and Zuckerberg's cage fight will go ahead Grimes was asked for her take on the ongoing beef between Musk and Meta founder Zuckerberg which saw the pair agree via Twitter earlier this year to go head-to-head in a cage fight. She believes the fight will go ahead and commented: "Elon is very strong, but Zuck seems like he’s been training a ton." However she did add that she “would prefer that it didn’t happen”, but she believes it might be a good outlet for “trad masculinity". In one of their Twitter exchanges, Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a “literal d***-measuring contest," a tweet in which Grimes said she would "take credit" for. She further clarified that she didn't tell Musk to write the post, and said: “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.” Her children are "little engineers" When asked about Musk bringing their son X into business meetings, Grimes expressed her support given the youngster's interest in rockets. "He knows more about rockets than me," she said, calling him a "little engineer". So much so, Grimes gave an example of her son's "obsession with space," recalling the time he had a "three-day PTSD meltdown," when Starship blew up back in April. Grimes also described her daughter Y as a "little engineer". "She likes industrial shipping. She’s very strange," she added. On Musk's differing views Previously, Grimes and Musk have shared disagreements on Twitter, most notably their different positions on gender with Musk tweeting "'pronouns suck," back in 2020, with people online calling his comment “disgusting” and “transphobic". "I love you but please turn off ur phone or give me a call. I cannot support hate. Please stop this. I know this isn’t your heart," Grimes replied at the time in a since-deleted tweet. Recently, Musk tweeted in June that the words “cis” and “cisgender” are now considered slurs on Twitter. "I don’t want to talk about this too much. But take the trans thing. After that, we had a big, long conversation. I was like, 'I want to dissect why you’re so stressed about this.' "I was like, OK, you don’t hate trans people, you hate woke culture. I get that it can be annoying, and you have concerns about the fertility thing." "He’s just on Twitter, and he’s unhappy with woke people, and the arguments happened," the artist added. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
1970-01-01 08:00

Piano great Argerich axes German, Swiss shows over illness
Celebrated Argentina-born pianist Martha Argerich has cancelled concerts in Germany and Switzerland in the coming days due to illness, organisers...
1970-01-01 08:00

Billy Porter says Hollywood strikes forcing him to sell his home
Stars aren't exempt from the hardships of the Hollywood strikes and Billy Porter is speaking out about it.
1970-01-01 08:00

Prince Harry lauds the healing power of sports as he kicks off a promotional tour of Asia in Tokyo
Prince Harry has lauded the virtue of sports and its healing powers as he kicked off a promotional tour of Asia in Tokyo
1970-01-01 08:00

Wagner tracker: Charting Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenary group through the Ukraine war
Since Vladimir Putin rose to power as Russia’s president 23 years ago, few things have rocked his leadership as much as Saturday 24 June when Wagner mercenaries barrelled towards Moscow. The “army within an army” who had been ruthlessly grinding away for months at the vanguard of some of the bloodiest fighting in eastern flanks Ukraine were now on the verge of triggering a war within a war - this time, against the Kremlin. But the Russian president was spared that when the mutiny was halted in its tracks about 125 miles from the capital, in a deal between the leader of the mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin and Putin – brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Prigozhin himself was due to head to Belarus – although he has been pictured in Russia since – with an invitation for Wagner fighters to gather in Belarus. Thousands are set to entered the country since. Nato-member Poland is sending thousands of troops to its border with Belarus, with Warsaw worried increasingly about the potential threat from Wagner fighters, who have been training Belarusian troops at a military range a few miles from the border in recent weeks. Belarus also started military exercises near the border this week, and Lukashenko has said several times that he is restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland. What is the Wagner Group? The Wagner Group is a private military company under the control of Prigozhin that cut its teeth in deployments to Crimea – illegally annexed by Russia – and Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region in 2014. The rebel group has since dispatched troops to several conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, including the Syrian civil war. Prigozhin – a 62-year-old ex-convict sometimes known as “Putin’s chef” because his catering business has hosted dinners for the Russian president – had denied all links with the group until September last year when he announced he was “proud” to be its founder. When did they join the Ukraine war? The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) first reported that Wagner had been deployed in Ukraine on 28 March 2022, little over a month into Moscow’s invasion – after Russian losses had already begun to hamper the pace of the initial assault. Military consultant Nicholas Drummond told The Independent: “Wagner was involved from the start but the group started to become a key player when the initial assault ran into difficulty. “By the end of March, it was very evident that the invasion had gone wrong. Putin used Prigozhin as a troubleshooter and Wagner was there to fill the gaps.” Former Nato commander Hamish de Bretton-Gordon emphasised Wagner’s crucial role in strengthening Russia’s offensive in the war. Speaking to The Independent, the former commander of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment of the British army, said: “In the early stages of war when Wagner wasn’t heavily committed, the Russian army pretty much nearly collapsed.” “Wagner fights with no boundaries. Criminals fill the ranks of the army. When all of this is over, I’m sure there are going to be horrific things conducted in Wagner’s name.” Below we track Wagner’s involvement in the invasion of Ukraine and their infamous- but failed- march to Moscow: Crimea: In February 2014, were used to help Russia illegally annex Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Crimea sits at the top of the Black Sea. The annexation condemned by countries in the West, including the UK. The mercenary group was also involved in Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine throughout 2015, where they allegedly carried out assassinations of local rebel leaders. Kyiv: In March 2022, weeks after Putin launched his invasion, reports suggested a special group had been sent into Kyiv to take out Zelensky. This resulted in a strict 36-hour curfew in Kyiv as Ukrainian soldiers reinforced the capital to protect Zelensky and his government. Since then, reports of Wagner’s activities have mainly focused on the eastern regions of Ukraine, though Kyiv remains a target of ceaseless strikes and artillery from the Russian army. Bucha: In the first week of April 2022, sickening images of a massacre in Bucha began to emerge following weeks of Russian occupation. Just days after Russian troops withdrew from the city, hundreds of bodies were discovered in the city approximately 16 miles northwest of Kyiv, some in mass graves. While Kremlin has always denied causing civilian deaths – although their credibility over such matters is thin at best. Interceptions by the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s foreign intelligence service, found evidence to suggest Wagner may be linked to the massacre, Der Spiegel reported. Bakhmut: In May 2022, Wagner began an offensive towards the town of Soledar and the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Ukranian province of Donetsk. It is an area that Putin seeks to control. The battle for Bakhmut has seen some of the most fierce fighting in the war. Located around 34 miles north of Donetsk, the region was an important industrial centre before being ravaged by war. In July, Prigozhin was given the green light to beef up his troops and began recruiting prisoners on a large scale, unconcerned about the type of crime they had committed. By the end of October 2022, the group gained at least 20,000 conscripts, which then more than doubled to 50,000 by the end of January 2023. Between November 2022 to January 2023, Wagner captured the salt-mining town of Soledar and strengthened its position in the south and north of Bakhmut. Fast-forward to May 2023, after months of merciless fighting, Prigozhin claimed to have captured Bakhmut and began withdrawing his troops from the city. The march to Moscow: Towards the end of June 2023, Prigozhin claimed Wagner fighters were deliberately shelled by Kremlin’s soldiers while leaving Bakhmut. This seemed to be the last straw for Prigozhin who had been complaining publicly for weeks about the slaughter of Wagner soldiers due to a lack of ammunition from Moscow. A power struggle was very publicly playing out between the Russian defence ministry and Prigozhin. On Friday 23 June, Prigozhin accused Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, of “destroying” his fighters and concocting lies to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Months of videos rants had been directed by Prigozhin towards Shoigu, with the Wagner leader getting increasingly riled about the actions of the Defence Ministry and the Russian military top brass as the invasion dragged on. A call to action was made by the mercenary group leader, inciting an armed rebellion heading to Kremlin in Moscow. Leaving their stations in the east, Wagner soldiers began their march to the capital and within hours had successfully occupied military headquarters in Rostov and Voronezh on the morning of Saturday 24 June. The group shot down Russian helicopters and and took out Russian artillery as they made their way up the main road to Moscow. The rebel group was seen as far north as Yelets in the evening, just 125 miles from Moscow, before the coup was suddenly called off at the 11th hour by Prigozhin, following the deal with the Kremlin. Belarus and beyond? Following the attempted rebellion in June, thousands of Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus. A deal was struck under which the mercenaries would move to Belarus in return for charges against them relating to the uprising being dropped. Putin said the fighters could either leave for Belarus, come under the command of the defence ministry or go back to their families. Before moving to Belarus, Wagner handed over its weapons to the Russian military, part of efforts by Russian authorities to defuse the threat posed by the mercenaries. Between 3,450 and 3,650 soldiers have travelled to a camp close to Asipovichy, a town about 140 miles (230km) north of the Ukrainian border, according to Belaruski Hajun, an activist group that tracks troop movements within the country. Satellite images show that about 700 vehicles, along with construction equipment, have also arrived in Wagner convoys to Belarus, Belaruski Hajun said. They have also helped train Belarusian troops at a military range near the city of Brest. Prigozhin also registered a “real estate management company” in Belarus last week under the name Concord Management and Consulting in Belarus. Documents analysed by independent Belarusian media outlets showed that the company’s registered address is in the same village as the Wagner mercenary camp. Asked about what Prigozhin’s next move could be, Mr de Bretton-Gordon said: “People like Prigozhin are wardogs, they are out to make money out of conflict. “He is now lining his pockets with as much as gold as he can. I think he will stay in Belarus as long as the money stays floating.” Mr Drummond questioned Prigozhin’s motives in Belarus, noting there are several factors at play. “Is he acting as a reserve force in case Putin wants to open a fresh front against Kyiv, or has he genuinely been banished and is considered too powerful to do anything?” But like Mr de Bretton-Gordon, Mr Drummond does not think the Russian president has alienated Prigozhin, but more likely placed him in a “state of suspended animation”. “Prigozhin has suddenly realised he could go straight into Moscow, and then he stopped and turned around. I think he freaked Putin out.” Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary How many casualties has Russia suffered in Ukraine? ‘Extremely dangerous’ Wagner fighters seeking to destabilise Nato, Poland warns Putin ‘looked paralyzed and unable to act’ as Wagner coup unfolded
1970-01-01 08:00

The US Open is adding video review for double bounces. It's a first for Grand Slam tennis
Video review for double bounces and certain other rulings will be making its Grand Slam tennis debut when main-draw competition begins at the U.S. Open later this month
1970-01-01 08:00

What type of hair loss does Jada Pinkett Smith have? Actress shares past and present selfies to update fans about her condition
'It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear,' Jada Pinkett Smith said about facing the first symptoms of alopecia
1970-01-01 08:00

How old was Britney Spears when she dated Colin Farrell? 'Don’t Hang Up' producer claims song was about duo's racy phone calls
The ‘Toxic’ singer had a brief affair with the Oscar-nominated Irish actor in 2003
1970-01-01 08:00

Megan Fox says her body aches from the 'weight of men's sins'
Megan Fox has unveiled a new project about terrible men with a collection of poems called Pretty Boys Are Poisonous. The Transformers actress said she has spent her life carrying the weight of men's sins, and explained how her new poetry book is an expression of freedom after years of living in silence. Fox, in collaboration with publisher Gallery Books, shared the exciting news with her 21.4 million Instagram followers. She shared the November 7 launch date, along with a personal statement to give a glimpse of what to expect. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "These poems were written in an attempt to excise the illness that had taken root in me because of my silence. I’ve spent my entire life keeping the secrets of men, my body aches from carrying the weight of their sins," the 37-year-old wrote. She continued: "My freedom lives in these pages, and I hope that my words can inspire others to take back their happiness and their identity by using their voice to illuminate what’s been buried, but not forgotten, in the darkness." Fox's comments were soon filled with shows of support, including from Machine Gun Kelly, who wrote "Proud of you," with a fire emoji. Another added, "I've never wanted to buy a book written by a celebrity until today," while a third penned: "This book is going to ignite 5th wave feminism and I’ve never been so excited for anything." "A beautiful heart. A beautiful woman. Special words for the soul," another added. Meanwhile, one passionate fan gushed: "I’m sorry… my queen releasing a book of poetry the week of my birthday?! Is this real life?!?" Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
1970-01-01 08:00

Barbie fans shocked as Dua Lipa shares behind-the-scenes secret about 'Dance The Night'
Dua Lipa has shared behind-the-scenes footage of the making of her hit song 'Dance The Night' for the Barbie movie, but eagle-eyed fans have noticed a major detail that makes it even more impressive. In the clip posted to TikTok, the singer could be seen working on the lyrics and melody to the song with Mark Ronson, however, the iconic dance scene the track plays over could be seen already-filmed. "I need to know HOW they did the choreo before the song was made like???" one user commented. "What were they rehearsing to?? What song fits this choreo??" Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter
1970-01-01 08:00

How tall is IShowSpeed? YouTuber once measured his height during live stream after chat labeled him 'midget'
IShowSpeed's height has been a subject of curiosity and jokes among fans due to his initial claim of 6 feet, later revising it to 6'1"
1970-01-01 08:00

Why is Alexa Davalos leaving 'FBI: Most Wanted'? Fans slam 'stupid decision', threaten to boycott show
Alexa Davalos became part of the series at the commencement of Season 3 portraying Kristin Gaines, a former Naval Intelligence Officer
1970-01-01 08:00