Grimes was spotted on Friday in downtown Los Angeles, apparently casually reading Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and the internet has gone crazy over the photos.
In her first public appearance since her sort-of split from Elon Musk – who is currently the world’s richest man worth $200 billion – after three years together, the singer was seen studying the book, which calls for the abolition of inherited wealth and ‘bourgeois” property.
True to her eccentric futuristic style, Grimes was sporting a hooded tinged brown and purple outfit that look like she was ready for battle.
Grimes in Los Angeles today.
— GRIMES CHARTS (@GrimezszCharts) October 2, 2021
Photography by Jvshvisions pic.twitter.com/b2kemGSYhU
The photos quickly sparked a meme frenzy on Twitter, with many quick to point out the irony that Musk is a billionaire and therefore is arguably capitalism’s biggest winner.
Grimes in la today pic.twitter.com/y3kQdUNUqy
— tess (@bittyshit) October 3, 2021
Grimes is experiencing the dream of most people who read the Communist Manifesto in a coffee shop: having people notice that you’re reading it
— Alan (@findomearle) October 3, 2021
someone said grimes new song will be called memes of production 💀
— voldo kun (@stovegodchan) October 3, 2021
Grimes photographed reading The Communist Manifesto following her public breakup with billionaire Elon Musk. Lmao. pic.twitter.com/Y4qXvK9a7g
— Watermelon Sugar (@ComradeBunnyy) October 3, 2021
Grimes pic.twitter.com/nWI3oxWrho
— Dr Gay (@penismouth3) October 3, 2021
Grimes reading Marx rn all like “hmmm intriguing” pic.twitter.com/NzatEl4Io8
— Al-Hajj Chairman Spooks| كوكس ☭ 🇵🇸| (@shawarmacommie) October 2, 2021
thanks but there's only one Grimes whose thoughts on labor are of interest to me pic.twitter.com/jlamxSYh2V
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) October 3, 2021
There were also those who took the opportunity to troll the singer by editing the photo so that it looks like she was reading a different book.
it’s good to see grimes educating herself pic.twitter.com/VcJVlu8irE
— 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰🧟♀️ (@MKUltraTranny) October 3, 2021
I see grimes is reading up on proper theory now pic.twitter.com/np9eIF2xHd
— ItsCounter (@CounterIts) October 3, 2021
Wtf based Grimes???? pic.twitter.com/hbgM81ysFP
— Maia (@EGirlMonetarism) October 3, 2021
Grimes is doing some good reading! pic.twitter.com/TO4Xh7hM7i
— Americana at Brand Memes (@americanamemes) October 3, 2021
grimes brushing up on her redstone knowledge i see pic.twitter.com/UEFxTLrpbq
— spooky scary eggeton (@kertoir) October 3, 2021
Grimes doing some light reading pic.twitter.com/hMBGGEnz2o
— jon drake (@DrakeGatsby) October 2, 2021
Grimes is handling the breakup well pic.twitter.com/aWUtMvH6t0
— Sandy Frizzle 🌽 (@SandyFrizzle) October 3, 2021
And, elsewhere, some people noted Grimes wasn’t intently reading the book and guessed the pictures were either staged or that she was just trolling the media with her “fake candids.”
"oh I see you've caught me casually reading" pic.twitter.com/6gCRqfbOGq
— Jane GhOst (@JaneOst_) October 2, 2021
The funniest thing to me about the whole grimes communist manifesto shots thing is that is so clear she didn't read it???? Like she didn't turn any pages both page sides are the same thickness in every picture pic.twitter.com/EZHPnzUpHh
— 🤍| Player 67 Enthusiast (@mistalucilfer) October 3, 2021
Grimes haters really got reversed uno’d today im giggling…my troll queen pic.twitter.com/b3DCJcgMUL
— its giving doodles (@RANNIESUSBBL) October 3, 2021
the irony of Grimes having someone take fake candids of her pretending to read the communist manifesto in an outfit that costs more than my entire salary for a year https://t.co/ekYtEXOwvl
— shitter @Unique and Digitally Scarce (@cavegremlin) October 2, 2021
did anyone actually take grimes seriously like please tell me they were more of a meme than anything else
— 👻💀👻🎃eric🎃👻💀👻 (@ericpuga) October 3, 2021
And it appears those people were right.
As the pictures began to quickly circulate, the singer took to Twitter to explain the reason behind the photos.
She tweeted: “paparazzi followed me 2 a shoot so I tried 2 think what I could do that would yield the most onion-ish possible headline and it worked haha,” and posted one of the images herself along with an article by the New York Post, which covered the story.
paparazzi followed me 2 a shoot so I tried 2 think what I could do that would yield the most onion-ish possible headline and it worked haha pic.twitter.com/9w8pPwIFAq
— Grimes 🪐 (@Grimezsz) October 3, 2021
Grime proceeded to give more details about the situation that led to her being photographed with the famous book.
“I was really stressed when paparazzi wouldn’t stop following me this wk but then I realized it was opportunity to troll .. i swear this headline omg wtf haha im dead.”
She then clarified her political views, writing: “Full disclosure I’m still living with e [Elon Musk] and I am not a communist (although there are some very smart ideas in this book -but personally I’m more interested in a radical decentralized ubi that I think could potentially be achieved thru crypto and gaming but I haven’t ironed that idea out enough yet to explain it.
“Regardless my opinions on politics are difficult to describe because the political systems that inspire me the most have not yet been implemented).”
Given all the attention on her choice of reading, perhaps Grimes might start a book club?
