What is Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies?

A Twitter joke format from May 2018 that pairs lookalike fictional or real couples with the caption "Elon Musk and Grimes", riffing on their Met Gala debut photo[2].

Where did Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies come from?

The format started on Twitter on the night of May 7th, 2018, after Musk and Grimes walked the Met Gala red carpet together[1].

What does Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies mean?

The joke plays on the visual mismatch between Musk in a plain white tuxedo and Grimes in a black gothic outfit, treating them as an odd couple archetype[2].

How do you use Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies?

Post an image of a nerdy guy and an alternative or goth woman, real or fictional, and caption it as if it were Musk and Grimes at the Met Gala[3].

Is Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies still popular?

The main burst was in May 2018, but the original Scott Pilgrim tweet by @pajamashaw is still recirculated whenever the couple returns to the news[4].

Who posted the first Elon Musk and Grimes parody?

Twitter user @freebasecatnip is credited with the first entry, using a Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich still from The Fifth Element[4].

What was the most quoted comparison?

Gideon Graves and Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, posted by @pajamashaw, which pulled over 95,000 likes in two days[4].

How did Elon Musk and Grimes actually meet?

Page Six reported they connected online over a joke about Roko's Basilisk, an AI thought experiment Grimes had already referenced with her 2015 Rococo Basilisk character[1].

Which outlets covered the meme?

Mashable, Vice, Inverse and Memebase all ran writeups within days of the Met Gala[2][3][5].

What nicknames did fans give the couple?

Vice floated Grusk, Grelon and Mimes as possible portmanteau names during the initial meme wave[3].

Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies

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Published August 19, 2026

Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies is a Twitter joke format from May 2018 where users paired the Tesla CEO and the electronic musician with lookalike fictional couples, usually a nerdy guy and a goth or alt woman, after the pair debuted their relationship at the Met Gala.

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Overview

Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies, a Twitter joke format built around a single red carpet photo of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Canadian musician Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, at the 2018 Met Gala on May 7th1. In the photo, Musk wears a plain white tuxedo while Grimes shows up in a black gothic robotic outfit, and the age and aesthetic gap between them became the whole joke2.

The format is simple. Users post a picture of a fictional or real couple that mirrors the pairing of a soft, geeky, buttoned up guy with an edgy, dark, alternative woman, and caption it as if it were Musk and Grimes2. The most quoted example is Gideon Graves and Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, played by Jason Schwartzman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead3. Comparisons ranged from live action films to Saturday morning cartoons, and the joke worked partly because the real photo already looked like fan art of a fictional couple4.

Elon Musk And Grimes Couple Photo Parodies

Overview

Frequently Asked Questions

References (5)