Elon Musk and Weird Al Yankovic Had a Hilarious Back and Forth on Twitter
Punctuation matters.
Grimes isn’t the only musician that Elon Musk listens to. After a hilarious misunderstanding on Twitter, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO revealed that even though Weird Al Yankovic had nothing to do with his budding new relationship, Musk can do a great a cappella cover of “Amish Paradise.”
Musk and Canadian musician Grimes made their public debut as a couple at the Met Gala on Monday. Once their relationship was confirmed, the internet erupted in memes about the 29-year-old synth-pop artist and her 46-year-old boyfriend and the press rushed to explain the origins of this unlikely match. Turns out, Musk and Grimes united over a shared inside joke about a weird A.I. conspiracy theory.
Here’s the problem: Not every online publisher bothers to hyphenate A.I. when talking about artificial intelligence. So some of these headlines that claim “Musk and Grimes are dating because of a weird A.I. conspiracy” look more like “Musk and Grimes are dating because of a Weird Al conspiracy.” This came as a surprise to Weird Al Yankovic.
“Um, what?” Yankovic tweeted on Wednesday night. The 58-year-old artist is known for his satirical covers of hit songs, but not normally artificial intelligence theories like Roko’s Basilisk. Musk responded to Yankovic’s tweet by sharing Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise,” claiming that his a cappella cover is “irresistible.”
This isn’t the first time Musk has shared his love of Weird Al with his Twitter followers. He’s been known to unwind with a few Weird Al tunes after heated Tesla meetings. Musk tends to mostly talk about “Amish Paradise,” noting the irony of playing a song about a community that shuns innovation while driving his Tesla.
Footage of Musk’s a cappella rendition of Weird Al is not yet available, but fans are already calling for a collaboration. Fans on Twitter noted that Yankovic hasn’t satirized “Rocket Man” yet, but that comparison is a little obvious for Weird Al’s style, which is known for changing the title and the lyrics of his covers. It would be a much more interesting challenge if he covers a Grimes song.
