Influenza Musk

About

Influenza Musk is the rumored name given to Grimes and Elon Musk's child in April 2020. Following a joke tweet implying that Grimes could be in labor on April 20th, a fake news headline was created a few days later claiming that the baby's birth certificate was leaked. "Influenza Musk" began to trend on Twitter and generate more memes akin to the ones made during Grimes' pregnancy announcement.

Origin

On February 21st, 2020, Grimes announced on Twitch^[1] that her due date is on May 4th. On April 20th, 2020, Redditor Annakiouyama asked r/Grimes^[2] "Where did all the “grimes is in labour right now” tweets come from?" to which Redditor RealitiBites answered "A few people made (very obvious) jokes about Grimes giving birth on 4/20, and somehow it spread enough that a bunch of stan accounts think it’s actual news." On April 23rd, a fake news headline was created with World Grey News^[3] that explains "After a leaked picture of the babies birth certificate, we have now found out that the name of Techno feminist dark etherealist grimes and tech mogul Elon musk's child is Influenza Mae musk" (shown below).

Spread

On April 23rd, 2020, Twitter account @PopBase^[4] tweeted, "Grimes & Elon Musk have reportedly named their child Influenza" (shown below, left). The tweet gained over 4,100 likes and 500 retweets in several hours. Soon after, Twitter user @jamesesesess^[5] tweeted, "Can grimes have her child in peace" and attached pictures of how World Grey News works (shown below, right).

That same day Twitter users began posting memes assuming the name was real. Twitter user @lilalbyno_^[6] tweeted, "influenza musk at a diner on her fathers martian colony" paired with an image of a glowing human (shown below). The tweet garnered over 100 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References