Elon Musk has sparked huge online backlash after telling Taylor Swift “I will give you a child”, after she signed off her endorsement of Kamala Harris as a ‘Childless Cat Lady’.
Following Harris’ debate against Republican rival Donald Trump, pop megastar Swift told her over 280 million Instagram followers she will vote for the US vice president, in the biggest celebrity endorsement yet for Harris.
Swift was pictured with her cat in the post, which she signed as "childless cat lady," in a dig at Trump's running mate JD Vance, who in a 2021 interview called some Democrats "a bunch of childless cat ladies."
He has since said it was merely a "sarcastic remark."
Trump supporter Elon Musk responded in bizarre fashion as he posted on his social media platform X on Wednesday: “Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life”.
His post has been met with a wave of criticism, with many seeing his jibe as disturbing and in poor taste, particularly given Swift’s post mentioned the importance of “a woman’s right to her own body”.
Fine Taylor … you win … I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 11, 2024
“Am I reading this right that you are offering to have a child with Taylor Swift?” wrote one user, in response to the post by Musk, 53, who has fathered 10 children to three different women.
“You are creepy and weird,” wrote another.
“Sir you have reached unseen levels of divorced,” wrote Tim Onion. “No one has ever been more divorced than you in this moment.”
“Dude, that’s gross as hell,” wrote another. “Get off of Twitter.”
Swift recently made history as the first solo artist to perform at Wembley Stadium eight times in a single tour.
The 34-year-old is in a relationship with Kansas City Chiefs American football player Travis Kelce, with whom she was photographed at the US Open men's final in New York at the weekend.
The Democrat campaign hope Swift’s endorsement of Harris could help boost support from women and younger voters, as polls show the race essentially tied between the presidential two candidates.
In her Instagram post on Tuesday night, Swift called the Democratic nominee a "steady-handed, gifted leader" who could lead the country with calm rather than chaos."I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I'm voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them," she wrote in the post, which had gained more than 6.5 million likes by 11am on Wednesday (UK time).
Swift also said she was impressed by Harris' running mate Tim Walz, who the singer described as someone "who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman's right to her own body for decades."
Reproductive rights have become a key issue for voters since the US Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion two years ago. IVF fertility treatments have also been pushed into the spotlight since an Alabama court ruled earlier this year that frozen embryos were people.
Harris, who supports abortion rights, has cast Trump as a threat to reproductive rights in the country after he appointed Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the Roe v Wade ruling in 2022. Trump has defended the Supreme Court's abortion ruling but has said a federal abortion ban is unnecessary and that the issue should be resolved at the state level.
In August, Trump posted a fake social media image of Swift asking people to vote for him in the November election.
Swift made a reference to that in her post late on Tuesday, saying Trump's move "really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation."
She added: "It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter."
Swift has supported Democrats in the past and backed President Joe Biden in 2020.
