Elon Musk’s former partner and Canadian musician, Grimes, hit out at the growing anti-India rhetoric on American social media. The musician revealed that she grew up in a half-Indian household.
In a post on X (formally twitter), Grimes wrote, “Suddenly concocting anti Indian energy out of nowhere is embarrassing yall. Also, they were clear they planned to do this.”
Shedding light on her upbringing, she said, “My step dad’s Indian, I had a fire childhood in a half Indian household. Indian culture jives very well western culture.”
The backlash against Indians have gained momentum after President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of Sriram Krishnan’s appointment as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy. Grimes, whose birth name is Claire Elise Boucher, condemned the racist and bigoted commentary directed at Indians.
Responding to an user’s query of on if “India be okay with being flooded with American culture, so much that it changes their culture significantly?” Grimes said “We already did this to them. It has caused a ton of problems for them.”
A user agreed with the musician saying “I always thought indian and western cultures jive well together, but what sucks is that these aren’t just opinions, but statements of people who hold power.”
To this Grimes wrote, “I'm also seeing lots of powerful ppl disagreeing. It's good to remember negative comments feel louder and more numerous. If you haven't much been subjected to social media toxicity it's good to remember ur monkey brain is telling you ur gonna get kicked out of the tribe and die of starvation or rape - important to fight the monkey brain impulses that social media seeks to trigger.”
Taking a dig another user asked her if she will be successful in Bollywood? She smartly shut down saying “I literally constantly complain that it’s bizarre here hasn’t been a Bollywood hit in the us. In fact, I shud work on this. & Yes they are better at singing than me - they're arguably the best in the world. I barely consider myself a singer.”
Addressing the immigration issue highlighted by a user, she said “the discourse becomes immature and cruel uselessly when I see significantly more accounts just making crude comments abt dirty Indians for no reason.”
“What’s being proposed as far as I understand is over all less immigration and more specialised immigration for people who are already hired for specialized jobs and ppl seem to be focussing on Indians rather than what seems to be a policy for all countries/ immigrants with talents needed just cuz an Indian guy mentioned the policy in relation to India,” Grimes said.