There Are No Girls on the Internet -  Azealia Banks was right about Elon Musk!

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Bridget revisits one of the most unexpected beefs of the 2010s: Azealia Banks vs. Elon Musk.From cryptic Instagram stories to allegations of LSD-fueled tweets, we break down Azealia banks’ contributions to culture, what really happened when she was stuck at Elon Musk’s house during the infamous Tesla “funding secured” weekend, what it reveals about Musk’s decision making, and what it means for all of us.  Rachel Sennott’s  “We’re from LA” skit: https://www.tiktok.com/@ericatthedisco/video/7131240180157009198?lang=enA Brief History of the Beef Between Azealia Banks, Elon Musk & Grimes: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/azaelia-banks-musk-grimes-beef-timelineSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There are no girls on the internet as a production of IHeart Radio and unbosted creative. I'm Bridget Todd, and this is there are no girls on the internet. So I don't need to tell anybody listening that everything feels awful. My idols are dead and my enemies are in power. But there is one tiny, tiny, tiny silver lining, which is that everything going on gives me a

reason to talk about my absolute favorite moment in pop culture history, the moment that is my personal Roman empire. And that is the time that Azale, Aaliyah Banks was trapped in Elon Musk's house. I have been wanting to make this episode for literal years, and now is the time. Congratulations, Bridget. I know you have wanted to make this episode for a very long time. Why now? You've been waiting so long.

Why today? Great question. I think there is this attitude amongst, I lovingly call these people like normies, like people who are not listening to this podcast. If you're listening to this podcast, you are not a normie. like people who are not super online that think that Elon Musk is this brilliant guy, this brilliant businessman who has started companies that are super successful and that it would actually be a good thing for the country if he brought all that genius business acumen,

true decision making and sound judgment to the country. Like when I go home and visit family, a lot of times they, I think they have a very surface level, casual understanding of who Elon Musk is. And I think that that really allows them to feed into this narrative that he is this smart, sound, solid guy. I do think that attitude is starting to break a little bit. You know, I think that we're starting to see people, even Trump supporters, be like, well, I love Trump, but I hate that Elon Musk. So I do think some of this attitude is starting to break and where people are starting to globally see him for who he really is. But when somebody has that opinion about Elon Musk, that he's this, like, smart guy, that just tells me that

that person has really not been following Elon Musk's absolute historic record of dog shit decision making, like truly L after L after L, because if they were, there is no way that they would think, this is a sound mind that we want in the White House. They would be saying, this is somebody that I would not be putting in charge of anything. My personal favorite is, uh, I just watched this like hour long YouTube video about him lying about being good at video games, it just really stuck with me. He's like the richest man in the world. And he invested so much time and money in creating this false narrative that he's good at video games.

Like for what? He just seems like an unwell dude. Mike, that is a great example. It's these elaborate lies that remind me of that kid that we all know. in elementary school who would lie just to lie and then like build out a whole fantasy world to maintain a self-aggrandizing lie. If you were a billionaire, why would you feel the need to construct an alternate reality where you're good at a specific video game? That is not something a well-adjusted, dare I say shrewd mind spends time doing. And so when I hear like normy people

who clearly have not been following every aspect of Elon's career, of lies, scams, and losses say like, oh, he's this smart guy. I just know they're not, they don't know him like we know him because the kind of person

who creates a fiction about them being good at a video game is not the kind of person that we would then want to empower in the White House. Yeah, I get the sense that he's, like Trump, like truly his genius level at like something,

like holding people's attentions and like believing his own lies, I think. I don't know exactly what it is, but like, clearly these guys are good at something, but, like, rational decision making doesn't seem to be it. So I will give Trump something like, I am loaves to give this man any kind of a compliment. He, from all, from people who have talked to him, he does seem like somebody who has like a certain kind of charisma, a certain kind of like quality that makes people want to listen to him, engage with him, watch what he has to say. I think a lot of that comes from being somebody who became empowered on reality television where it doesn't really matter what you're selling as much as much as like how you sell it. Elon Musk doesn't have any of that.

I think that like Elon Musk doesn't know how to talk to people, doesn't know, wouldn't know charisma that bit him on the butt. Like he's just not like the things that make Trump good at being a fascist leader, I do not think that Elon Musk has. And I think we see that in the hundred different things. examples from his career that really demonstrate this. But I would argue maybe none demonstrate it quite as well as what happened between him in Azalea Banks, which by the way, I watched this shit go down live. Like, I lived it. I was like, like, every story that Banks dropped, I was

screenshoting. Like, I was there. And I guess it's one of those things that, like, you truly had to be there. And if you're thinking, Bridgett, what are you talking about? Listen up, because if you weren't there, I'm about to fill y'all in. Okay, Bridget, I wasn't there. What are you talking about? Well, we got to start with who is Azalea Banks. I kind of like can't imagine somebody would be an avid listener to this podcast and not know about Azalea Banks. But that kind of top level, she is a musician from Harlem. She had to come up in this very interesting moment in pop culture. She got big initially. on MySpace in 2008 before being hooked up with a recording deal thanks to Diplo when she was age 18. Don't worry, that's going to be the only Diplo mention of this episode.

We don't have to get into a fight about Diplo. Well, people listening are probably like, oh, because Diplo is a problematic character in his own right, but you and I had that big fight about Diplo. We don't need to, we don't need to relitigate it now. But we don't need to relitigate Diplogate. So, Azalea Banks was doing super interesting stuff that really highlighted this nexus of culture at the time. Like, honestly, had things happen differently, I can see myself making an episode about how Azalea Banks was one of these people who really successfully and in an early time saw the power of internet culture very early in her career, but alas.

So Azealia Banks was like doing things. Like she used YouTube to share her demo tracks, including a cover of, do you know that band Interpol? They kind of go like an indie band where the vocalist has kind of a nasally voice. Like all of his singing is sort of like, it's not too late. Like it's like a very specific. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah.

I was like really into Interpol in the odds. Okay. Well, did you know that she released a cover of their song's slow hands on YouTube way back in the day? I have to admit I did not know that. She was someone who was for me like a very important figure in early internet culture and really use that culture for her own come up. In 2011, she starts writing the song 212,

which would go on to be her opus, and she starts writing it a month before getting evicted from her apartment on Dykeman Street in Harlem. So she was like, really a Harlem girl, like about that Harlem life. I actually didn't know this. I found that I learned this from doing the research from this episode. She initially released 212 just as a free download on her website in 2011, and people loved it so much.

Like it became like a song that was being used in big fashion shows and on television. And so it was not until the following year that she actually included it on her first debut album called 1991. But when she first released that song, 212, she had not even had an album yet. She was still like kind of an unknown in the music world. But like we really have to take a little bit of a detour here because when I say that Azealia Banks's 212 changed culture, I really mean it. I can make an entire episode about that song. I won't, but I could, but I won't. But I would argue that it was not only the best song of 2012,

but probably the most culturally relevant. Like if I was thinking about the, like, not just 2012, if I was thinking about like the aughts, the 2010s in general, if there was a song I had to pick to represent that particular era, it would be two on two. Like, no other song sums up that particular moment in music, fashion, and culture. Billboard magazine agrees with me.

Billboard recognized two and two as one of the songs that define the decade. And then also just like her story being really like of an era, this relatively unknown super online broke girl from Harlem releasing music just on her website that gets blown up by like big music blogs and goes on to become a global smash sensation. Like that is really a story that is of an era. If you've seen that movie blingering about those young people in L.A. who were like robbing Paris Hilton, that Azealia Banks's 212 is used in the trailer. And I'll say that movie was directed by Sophia Coppola. Nobody knows how to pick music that defines an era like Sophia Coppola. I was listening to this podcast called This Had Oscar Buzz about how the song, 212, in that trailer, is really meant to sum up the 2010s. And that it easily could have been in that trailer, a song by a band like the Ting Tingings, which also had a lot of buzz in the 2010s, but that how when you rewatch the trailer in 2025, it's clear that the Ting Ting somehow is the wrong

choice. And Azalea Banks's 212 is like the correct choice to represent the decade. But in the 2010s, we maybe didn't realize how era defining that song was. And like looking back today, it really had a staying power culturally. Yeah. Even I know that song. It's an awesome song. still hear it like a lot. Oh, absolutely. Like that song is the culture. There's this really funny video of the actress Rachel Sanoit doing like a skit on YouTube that uses that song.

I'll, it's if you haven't seen it, it's like her being like, we're from L.A. If you don't have an eating disorder, get one, biach. Like it's like very funny. And so like this song, it just like really defined an era. It's still the song that I get dressed to when I'm like getting ready for a night out. I love it. I don't care. It is my forever banger. And a lot of people listening, I know you agree with me. You might not say it out loud. You might not have the courage to say it in a microphone like I do. But a lot of people agree with me. I'm not the only one. Okay. So it sounds like you really like Azalea banks, Bridget. So like, what's the problem? It's her. Her. She's the problem. It's her. Azealia is super problematic. I'm not even sure problematic is the right word to describe her. was like, we would be here all day if I did a complete accounting of all of her, like,

problems and missteps, which honestly I would actually love to do in another episode or another podcast. So, like, I don't even know how to describe or put into words her brand of exactly whatever is going on with her. I looked at her wiki to see how it's framed there. And it says, quote, Banks's social media presence and outspoken views, especially on U.S. politics and race, as well as disputes with other artists have attracted significant controversy. And I'm thinking like, yeah, that's kind of putting it mildly. Also, side note, her Wikipedia has a section that's just called Disabutes and Controversies.

Yeah, you never want that. Or maybe you do. I don't know. If I become famous and somebody makes a Wikipedia page for me, I want there to be a section that's just disputes. Grievances. Grievances. I need a grievances section.

Okay, so the real, like, OG Aeselia followers probably remember that she would get on Instagram live and just really do some stuff. Like, one time she was sacrificing live chickens as part of a religious ceremony in her closet in her apartment. So like, she was, she did a lot of stuff out there. Like, she was like, you never really knew what you were going to get when you went to her Instagram live. I'll put it that way. I did not see that coming in this conversation. Okay, well, yeah, live chicken sacrifice is part of this. So, yeah.

So this is actually one of the reasons why I'm so fascinated by Azealia Banks. And also, like, we'll kind of always have, I guess, a soft spot for her. Like, she's kind of one of my problematic faves despite all the things that she has said and done. Because I feel like, I really get the sense that she was someone who was in the exact right place, in the exact right time and culture to really explode. And she's like very talented. And I do think that she's someone who could have been huge. Like I, this might be controversial, but like she could have been dochi. Right. Like she really was someone who was right time, right place had the talent. But I think that she burned a lot of her own bridges and got in her own way. And her career really never took off

the way that I think it should have. And you know, not only is that a shame because of like I would love to see a world where, like, she's thriving and, like, we're all getting to hear really cool music. But a lot of the reasons why her career has stalled the way it has just seem like it's, like, her own fault, right? Because she does just say and do the wildest stuff. Stuff that, like, I really am not cool with. Just to give you a sense, a lot of the stuff that she says and does is homophobic and transobic and racist. Like, back in 2015, she compared the LGBTQ community to, quote, the white gay KKK's. She was filmed hurling homophobic

slurs at a flight attendant. Like, stuff like that. In 2020 and 2021, she made a series of transphobic content about trans women, specifically when it came to gender affirming health care and surgeries. She just recently, like, within the last few weeks,

got booted from Amsterdam's electronic queer inclusive milkshake festival. She was dropped from their lineup for its 2025 festival. So I will say, she did seem to sort of backtrack some of this stuff in February. She called out Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who was like known transphobb for her transphobic comments saying, I love you down, sis, but trans women are not a threat to your femininity.

You really are too rich and legendary to keep spewing the same kind of stuff over and over. But I will say about Azalea Banks is like there seems to be no real clear through line. like she spoke out in favor of Kamala Harris only to later say that she voted for Trump. Like she has someone that I would not expect consistency from. I'll put it that way. But something that I would do is listen to a true crime style podcast

about the night that she got into a huge feud with the Rizza from Wu Tang Clan, wherein the Rizza says he brought her to a party at Russell Crow, that actor, I think he's Australian. Is he Australian? Sure, maybe. I think so.

Well, fact-checked that. That Rizza brought Azealia Banks to a party at Russell Crow's hotel room that turned into a, some sort of a dispute or altercation that got physicaled. The story goes that Crow had a party at this hotel. Azalea is Riz's guest. There was some kind of altercation. I have read that Azealia Banks allegedly objected to the music that Crow was playing at the party, which if that is true,

you got to, that's like pretty funny. So Azalea says that Russell Crow spat on her and used the in slur at her. Now, at first, Derrissa disputed all of this, and he was like totally on Russell Crow side and said that Azalea just went nuts and she started threatening to cut people with a broken bottle

and that like he was so horrified because, you know, she was his guest and that Russell Crow handled it really, well, blah, blah, blah. Like, at first, he was, like, totally taking Russell Crow's side. But literally years later, there isa finally did admit, like, yeah, Azealia Banks was telling the truth and Russell Crow spat on her. So this is a good example of why I find Azealia Banks so fascinating.

And part of the reason why I want to talk about her today is because absolutely sis says and does awful things, things that I am not ideologically, lined with at all, things that I am not down with. But she reads to me kind of like somebody who is a bit like a broken clock, right? Like, she is right twice a day. And when she's wrong, she is super, super, super monumentally wrong. But when she's right, she is so really right. I saw this tweet from the account having a laugh that I thought was like, oh, that really put it well. They write browsing Azalea Banks's tweets. Oh, that's a very fun. and insightful critique of a contemporary pop star.

That too. Actually, no. I don't think that race of people are descended from rats. Like, that is the experience of being exposed to Azalea Banks' opinions. You're like, oh, good take. Oh, great take. Oh, wait. Actually, really, really not good take.

Like, opposite of good take. I am not aligned with that take. Yikes. Okay. Going back one, I googled. Russell Crow is from New Zealand. Oh, New Zealand. Sorry to all my Australians out there. Got y'all confused with New Zealand. Yeah, and I guess he doesn't come off as looking too good in that story.

So despite all of her behavior, I don't automatically discount the things that she says outright. Like, a lot of people are like, oh, she's an unreliable narrator, can't trust her, like she'll just say whatever. And I get that. But I actually don't outright discount the things that she says, which brings me to Elon Musk. Because Azealia Banks has essentially accused Elon Musk of holding her hostage in his home in what she describes as a get-out-style situation. And she basically live-tweeted the entire thing, and it turned into a literal SEC investigation. A get-out-style situation? Those are her words, not mine. Okay, so I got to ask, why was Azealia Banks in Elon Musk's house in the house in the...

the first place. So the reason why Azealia is at Elon Musk's house in the first place involves another musician, Grimes. Honestly, Grimes' downfall via Elon Musk could be studied. Like, I would love to make another episode all about that. But there was a time where we mostly knew Grimes as this, like, respected electronic musician who talked a lot about, like, anti-colonialism and anti-capitalism. She had a ton of indie street cred. But in 2018, she lost a lot of that street cred when she debuted her relationship with Elon Musk at the MetGala. So Grimes now needs a way to revive her indie bona fides, and Azalea Banks needs a musical collaborator on her album, so the two decide to link up. So Grimes and Banks were meant to be collaborating on Banks's notoriously troubled second album,

and they both separately confirmed this back in June. According to Banks, Grimes invited her to fly out to L.A. to stay at Musk's place to finish putting the finishing touches on the their album, which Banks did. Now, here's where it gets weird. So according to Azalia, she goes to Elon Musk's house and Grimes doesn't show. So Azalea Banks is like, oh, I must have got the date wrong and just heads home and continues living her life. Oh, wait, no, just kidding. Because she's Azalia freaking Banks, she decides to essentially stay and live post her entire weird-ass stay at Elon Musk's house saying that she had been alone in his house waiting for Grimes to show up for days. So here's where I should say. So here's where I should say.

up front and come for me if you must. But everything that Azealia says she saw go down at Elon Musk's house, I believe her. Like she is someone who is unreliable and says and does wild shit. I will own that up front. But like something about the way that she describes this stuff just really does sound like Elon behavior to me. Like I know a lot about Elon Musk. I've been following his career for a really long time. And from everything that we know about Musk, his erratic behavior, his poor leadership, impulsive decision-making, and drug use, everything that Banks says sounds like something he would do. Everything that she says that she saw sounds like the person that we currently have making decisions in the White House. So when people talk about this feud, they tend to frame it

as like, oh, Azalea Banks is this unreliable narrator. But I don't think that she's more or less unreliable or like crazy than Musk. Like the entire laundry list of reasons why Azealia Banks is an unreliable narrator, I feel like that list is just as long, if not longer, for Elon Musk. And I don't like that people just dismiss what Banks has to say about what she saw and what that says about Elon's ability to run things, given that he's essentially running our country. Like she might be out of pocket, nine out of ten times, but I still think that we should hear her out about what she says happened and use that to draw some.

conclusions about the stability of the leadership we currently have in the White House. Stability is not a word that I would use to describe Elon Musk or what's happening in the White House or governing America's foreign policy or how our entire society or economy feel at the moment. So yeah, at this point, I'm willing to believe a lot of things. Yeah, this is the self-appointed arbiter of efficiency, right? Like let that sink in. Like, he has decided, oh, no, I know all about efficiency. I'm the one who should be driving efficiency for the United States.

Let's take a quick break. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guide, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman, help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriters. Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs

banter. There's that worst singer in the group? The worst? Yeah. Me. Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation. The group. The yard herds, right?

That's the name. The Harvard yard, but they're open. Do you have a name suggestion? We're open. Since you guys are middle aged, one erection. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Humor me. I need some jokes to make me seem funny. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, think again. More Americans listen to podcasts

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That's iHeartadvertising.com. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the head.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. For more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. And we're back. So Azealia Banks arrives at Elon Musk's house.

A few days later on August 7th, Musk starts tweeting some classic Musk erratic shit. Shout out to the website, high snobriety because a lot of this has since been deleted, but they kept a very clear record of what went down and I'll link that in the comments. Or I'll link that in the show notes. So Elon tweets that he's, quote, considering taking Tesla, private at $420 funding secure. So Mike, are you a genius enough to understand the joke there? Like, why he would say that he's taking it private at 420.

Do you get it? Is it too sophisticated for you? I believe that's a reference to what the kids call marijuana. Yeah, it's a marijuana joke, a weed joke. So I know, Elon's jokes are always, they're just like... They're not good. It's not a good joke. Like, it makes me think of, like, the movie, how high or something, right?

Like I thought that shit was hilarious when I was like 16 and high. How dare you. How hot. Don't don't do Method Man like that. Like their humor is a lot. It may not be the most sophisticated out there, but it's not just 420. Oh, well. Like, you're right.

You're right. I'm thinking of different shows. That is a good, good movie. So Musk's 420 announcement made Tesla share skyrocket, closing the market at an 11% rise with stocks at $379.579 and 57 cents apiece. This rise brought Musk's personal net worth up to $25.8 billion, earning him $1.4 billion that single day. It kind of becomes a meme being like, oh, I'm going public at 420. But you kind of can't just do that, according to the SEC, because on August 8th, the Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC had opened an inquiry into Musk's announcements about taking

Tesla private on Twitter. If his claim was to prove untrue, Musk's tweet may have violated U.S. securities law. So not great. Like, he could be committing financial crimes publicly on Twitter with Azalea Banks in his house, live streaming the entire thing. And if you believe Azalea Banks, she was essentially a witness to all of this. And not only that, she's providing like play-by-play commentary of everything that he's doing. So if the SEC is kind of low-key accusing him of a crime, you got Azalea Banks in your house at the same time, giving a public blow-by-blow of those alleged crimes.

So this is what I mean when I say that we should really think about what this incident means and like the fact that he is now in charge of so much of how our country is run. Like, this is not a smart person. It's not a savvy person. This is not an efficient person. Azilia said, I saw him in the kitchen, tucking his tail in between his legs,

scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet, she told Business Insider, he was stressed and red in the face. He's not cute at all in person, she added. Not cute at all. What an insult. This is something else you're going to learn about Azalea is that she really good at a turn of phrase.

Like, no matter what you think about her, she really is a good talk. We'll talk more about it in a minute, but she really is a very good insulter. Like nobody, nobody can insult like her. She really is good at it. So Banks says that Elon tweeted all of this, all of this stuff about taking Tesla public while he was allegedly on acid, a claim that I absolutely 100% believe. She wrote that she waited around all weekend while Grimes coddled her boyfriend for being too stupid to know not to go on Twitter while on acid.

So according to you believe, Zalia Banks, this entire thing was like a manifestation of a bad acid trip or something. And also going on Twitter while on acid does seem like a very bad idea. Terrible idea. Again, somebody who thinks it's a good idea to take acid, go on Twitter and start maybe kind of allegedly low-key tweeting about your business's crimes. Is that the kind of mind that we want us, a hair away from the executive? I would argue no. I would argue no.

You know, another businessman though might have had like a whole communication team in place to manage this communications, and they wouldn't have tweeted a bunch of lies while on acid. But his way is much more efficient. He's just cut that team out entirely. Okay. So she says that he was on acid at the time. Does he agree?

No. Once reporters start asking questions, he was like, oh, that never happened. Speaking with Gizmodo for an article published on August 13th, must say that, quote, He never even met Azealia Banks or communicated with her in any way. At this point, Grimes announces that she's heading to Vegas to meet Elon to go to a hacker conference. So she's not coming back to his house at all to do this collaboration. And Azalea is not happy. Meanwhile, Banks goes off on Grimes and Musk in a series of Instagram stories,

accusing crimes of actually being the one who was leaking the information about what Elon is doing. So I got to give a little PSA here. this is me reading Azalea Banks's words, just so we're all clear. She writes, L.O.L. Elon Musk is better off hiring an escort. At least an escort would have kept her mouth shut about his business. He's got some dirty sneaker inbred out the woods, Pab's beer pussy meth-head junkie running around town telling everyone,

everything about him, all because she needed a date to the Met Gala to hide his shrinking dick from Amber Heard, L-O-L. Elon Musk was once in a relationship with Amber Hurd. A fucking rebound, a beta male who took steroids and got hair plugs to convince himself he was alpha. There's no reason that in this collab with Grimes, I know so much about Elon Musk. Grimes really is an idiot. And Elon Musk really is part of the problem.

When you talk about white male privilege and colonialism, his family's wealth is rooted in emeralds and ore mines in southern Africa during apartheid. This trash-ass beta-mail pig was given his start in life because he's, disgusting racist parents took advantage of thousands of black people. Ask Elon Musk what the fuck he has done for Africa. Nothing. He ignores it. These fake-ass libertarian shitbags.

Damn. Oh, okay. I mean, like... That's an insult. Do you see what I'm saying? Because, quote, trash-ass beta male pig? That is an... Like, that is a turt.

Like, there's like layers and levels to that as an insult. Dirty sneaker inbred out of the woods, Paps beer, pussy meth. Junkie. I hate to laugh, but. That's strong language there, fighting words from his earlier. And what's also interesting about this is she's writing this in 2018.

This, like, it was definitely part of the public understanding of Elon Musk that the reason why he got wealthies because of his family's connections in South Africa, particularly they're like emerald mine. But that was not something that like your casual observer of Elon Musk was. talking about, right? Like, if you knew that, you knew that and it was, it was out there. It was a note. Like, I knew that in 2018. But I think, like, Elon Musk, even back in 2018, occupied a different space in our political and social and cultural imagination. And I would argue that Azalea Banks was kind of one of the, one of the early people who took that from, like,

something that people who were pretty read in on these tech spaces new and kind of pushed it forward to more popular, accessible imagination. Does that make sense? sense? It does. And I guess the other way to say that would be getting mixed up with Azalea Banks was the beginning of Elon Musk's downfall from tech genius Golden Boy to half the country engaging in active protests about how terrible he is. I would say in a lot of ways, yes. Like, even if you look at the reporting from tech reporters that I like and trust, I think in 2018, Kara Swisher was still talking about Elon Musk. Like he was like a sound genius that we should be looking to for like innovation and stuff like i do think that azalea banks

say what you will about her was on the early side of this this kind of turn in our in our popular understanding of elin musk again this to be really clear lots of people have been telling the truth about who elin musk is for a long time and i don't want to discount that but a lot of people were not And I think that Aesalia Banks was somebody who really paved the way of our current understanding of who Elon Musk is. Fake-ass libertarian shitbag. Yes. So remember how Elon Musk told Gizmodo, I have never met Azealia Banks, not even once. And he was like very specific and definitive about it.

So he was lying. He walked that back and was like, okay, maybe I did meet her once. On August 16th, the New York Times confirmed that Musk, Banks did meet briefly. Musk told the paper, quote, I saw her on Friday morning for two seconds at about a 30 foot distance as she was leaving the house. He continued, I just finished working out. She was not within a hearing range. I didn't even realize who it was. That's literally the only time I've ever laid eyes on her. Again, that just sounds like a lie to me. The fact that he threw in the like, I had just left my bench presses at the gym. It's like, okay, all right. Like,

Yeah, it just sounds like a lie. It just sounds like a lie. Like I saw her from 30 feet away. I didn't even recognize her, but it was her. And again, like, I'm sure that he has some, like, I mean, I live in a one-bedroom apartment. So, like, if I saw somebody in my apartment from 30 feet away, I'd have some questions. But I just can't imagine that he's like, oh, who's, so I'm sure that he has, like, a huge compound mansion, whatever. But I still can't imagine that you would see somebody in your house from 30 feet away and not be like, who is this person?

in my house. Like, I feel, I feel like you would have a follow-up. Yeah, like, why is this person leaving my house? And who are they? And what are they doing in my house? So we're to believe that he saw her from 30 feet away and, like, was just like, like, 30 feet is not that long. Like, and he just, like, there was no words exchanged. Yeah. It's a, it defies credibility a little bit. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it at all. Meanwhile, Azalea Banks is still in his house. on August 20th, Banks tagged Elon Musk in her Instagram story writing, You need to contact me ASAP. I need my phone back now. She said that Musk had involved an attorney in all of this, writing, quote,

they came up with all these threats of blackmail. They paid my attorney off to take my phone and delete evidence. And then in an Instagram story, Banks said that she wanted to go home and, quote, none of this shit has anything to fucking do with me. So it sounds like at this point, stuff is like, actually. getting quite messy and like maybe she's like, I don't want to be involved in this anymore. Shortly after this, Musk deleted his Instagram altogether. Wait, so the timeline here, she tweeted all that shit and then continued to live in his house?

Yeah. So she's she's live tweeting according to her, like, from his house. Yikes, okay. So Avelia Banks then starts releasing screenshots of texts that she had with Grimes, which only recently, as in like a few months ago, Grimes actually confirmed were real. So I was going to have to say like allegedly texts with her and Grimes because who knows, maybe they're doctor and who knows. Grimes, we have it from Grimes. These are real texts. In the text, Azalea and Grimes get into Elon's SEC allegations. Grimes says, quote, he just got into weed because of me and he's super entertained by 420. So when he decided to take the stock private, he calculated that it was worth $419.

So we rounded up to 424 a laugh. And now the SEC is investigating him for fraud. These texts are very revealing, but they're also like very funny to me because Banks is just so fucking mean to Grimes in these texts. And Grimes just sort of comes off as like kind of clueless like, L.O.L. We're besties. Like at one point Grimes is like telling Azelia Banks that she should find a boyfriend so we can be pregnant at the same time. It'll be so fun. And Banks replies, yeah, girl, as soon. as you sober up.

Mean. Just mean. It's so mean. So the New York Times asks Musk, like, what the hell is going on? In an interview with the Times, Musk said that he was not high when he sent the 420 funding secured tweet. He said, it seemed like better karma at 420 than 419. But I was not on weed, to be clear. Weed is not helpful for productivity.

There's a reason for the word stone. You just sit there like a stone on weed. Also, side note, by this time, there was plenty of, like, public footage of him smoking joints on Joe Rogan's podcast. So I don't know why he's trying to pretend, like, I am too productive to have ever smoked weed. And then it's like, well, there's videos of you smoking weed. So I don't, I don't know what this is. And also, I thought the claim was that he was on acid, not on weed. Very perceptive, right?

Because she never mentioned weed. She said acid specifically. Pretty different substances. Correct. I think at this point, Banks was like, yeah, this is too much heat. even for my wild ass. So she kind of apologizes to Elon Musk via a letter that she posted on social media

after she had left his house. She says in it, she says that during the time that she was in his home, quote, she was welcomed to a lot of information about Musk that made her feel awkward or uncomfortable, but that she never had any intentions of using that information against him. Mind you, in her apology,

she never says she was lying about anything or that she made anything up. He just says, I inadvertently got a lot of information about you, and it wasn't, I didn't mean to like tell the world that information and I wasn't trying to use it against you. It's telling to me that she doesn't say she made it up. Yeah. I mean, there's just a lot going on here. The fact that she's posting all of this to a variety of social platforms is something.

I don't know what it is, but it's something. Well, right after her apology that she posted on social media to Musk, she then posted a screenshot of a Washington Post story about Tesla remaining public and captioned it, quote, if it ain't broke, don't. let your druggie art school girlfriend convince you to break it. And then in a later Instagram story, she writes, quote, congratulations, I literally saved you from being eaten alive by a weird, cannibalistic, feminist, pagan, lesbian electronic music cult. Wow. So she like hates Grimes at this point.

I'm not even sure if I would say that she does, but I just think that Grimes is someone that she just like cannot help insulting. Like she just like really does not respect Grimes at all that she wants to make that clear like two Grimes in space. More after a quick break. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guide, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Jim Gaffigan to Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter Streeter Seidel help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. There's the worst singer in the group. The worst? Yeah. Me.

Is there anything to the idea that because you're from Harvard, you only got in because your parents made a huge donation. The group. The yard birds, right? That's the name. The Harvard Yard. They're open. Do you have a name suggestion?

We're open. Since you guys are middle aged. One erection. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app. Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Humor me. I need some jokes to make me seem funny. Run a business and not thinking about podcasting, think again.

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That's iHeartadvertising.com. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on it.

on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen, kingdom on earth.

He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

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Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told LeVan, you're ruining my. my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Let's get right back into it. So Banks has left Musk's house, and you might think that this is where things end and we

forget about everything. But you know who didn't forget? You know who doesn't forget? Elephants. Elephants and the SEC. Because Azealia Banks was subpoenaed in a lawsuit against Tesla and Elon Musk, which, to the complaint was partly focused on what happened during that time that she spent at his house. Banks did an interview with Business Insider via DMs when this whole thing was happening,

saying the first round of Elon Musk bullshit was stressful enough. I don't have bandwidth for another row with him. Also, side note, Business Insider was also subpoenas. Like, they were subpoenaing everybody. They really wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on in this situation. And it's interesting because, like, this was the first Trump administration. Yeah. Their SEC going after Musk.

Yeah. So Azealia was subpoenaed by attorneys for plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Musk and Tesla. The lawsuit filed by Tesla investors in 2018 alleges that Musk made false and misleading statements when he tweeted that funding was, quote, secured to take Tesla private at 420 a share in 2018. It makes absolute sense that the SEC would come to talk to Azalia after that 420 tweet because she, again, she's.

said that she saw him with her own eyes scrounging for investors to cover his ass on that tweet and that she tweeted it, he tweeted it while he was inebriated on acid. And like I said, Business Insider was also subpoenaed for their DMs with Ozzaly Banks. Here's a little taste of the subpoena. Quote, Grimes and Ms. Banks were in close contact with Mr. Musk before and after the tweet and are believed to be in possession of relevant evidence concerning Mr. Musk's motives. This is from Adam M. Abpton and Levi Kroninski, the firm representing the investors. business insider also appears to have relevant evidence in light of its relationship with Ms. Banks. So what happened? Well, I will say that a jury did clear Musk of liability. And it seems like that's kind of it. Back in October of 2024, a federal appeals court seemed unlikely to disturb the jury's verdict clearing Musk and his company of liability over the allegations that they misled investors when he tweeted on social media back in 2018 that funding had been secured to take Tesla private. So Elon,

did not face liability and probably won't on this specific thing. But that incident really does linger large in our cultural understanding of who Musk is, whether you realize it or not. So the thing about Azealia Banks is that she goes nuclear immediately. And she does it with this, like, venom and cleverness that just really has staying power. So it's like what we were just talking about how she really was on the early side of how we understand, or like the fraud that we now understand Elon Musk to be, right? Like she got there before Kara Swisher got there. And all of these really mean claims and like turns of phrase that we think about when we think about Elon Musk today in 2025, some of that really did originate with Azalea Banks.

So Mike, have you, I don't want to be crass, but have you ever heard the claim that Elon Musk got a botched penis implant surgery? I have heard that claim. I have no idea whether it is true or not. Well, that claim was really buttressed by Banks. She replied to somebody on Twitter who claimed that Musk had a, quote, botched penis implant. And Azealia Banks seemingly affirmed that. She said, oh, Grimes told me about that too. So first of all, it's like, it does, it does sound like Azalia was right, if you believe this, that like, Grimes really was telling her a lot of information about Elon Musk, like, personal information.

Yeah, that's pretty personal. So, like, her takedowns of Musk, her, like, verbal takedowns of him really, like, are devastating and searing. And they last. Like, I see people calling Elon Musk a trash-ass beta pig all the time on the internet. All the time, every day. And so, like, do you know the kind of, like, online meme of calling Elon Musk like nicknames like apartheid Clyde? I do and you know it makes sense because I think that's like his wealth uncontrovertibly

comes out of the apartheid system, right? It does. And Azalea Banks was the person who gave him that nickname in January of 2019 during part of their feud. According to Urban Dictionary on January 5th, 2019, Azalea Banks posted a story in which she referred to Musk as apartheid Clyde. a reference to Musk growing up in South Africa during the era of apartheid and his father, Errol Musk, owning a 50% share in an emerald mine in Zambia.

On that day, several users on X slash Twitter posted about banks calling him apartheid glide. So she really like, you know, that's even today in 2025, that has become the language of like how just everyday brokies on the internet like me try to take digs at Elon Musk. It is amazing that he can have such an enormous profile and seemingly like not have a history. Like you really have to look for it to learn about his history, his parents' history, his grandparents' history. And it's there, but you have to look for it. Yeah. It is there. Like I've listened to some like very disturbing podcasts about his father.

There is compelling evidence. And his relationship with his mom. is super weird. Like his mom is like gorgeous. She's a model. But she is just like someone who is really trying hard to shield her son from any type of criticism in this way that's like, well, okay, you don't get to do that when he's like, you know, a special employee of the White House, right? Like people are allowed to criticize your role in shaping our democracy and our life, lady. So yeah, his his family situation is pretty dark. And, pretty weird and like out there publicly. And so it's interesting to me how for so long he was just this like rich guy who made cars. Like even though all that information was out there. Like he really, I think it really is. It says something about the ease of myth making in the United States that you could sort of like build this mythos about yourself where you're this, you know, genius upstart who knows everything about everything.

who, you know, succeeds on his own independence, not because of anybody's diamond mind or emerald mind. And that can sort of be accepted until somebody like Azalea Banks comes along and like, you know, shatters that, shatters that image. Like, she is, during that old Apple commercial of the woman, like, running up and, like, throwing a hammer at the glass. Like, that is Azalea Banks, panitrating Elon Musk's, the glass that is this, like, fictional. world that he is built for himself. Yeah, that's a nice way to describe it there with that 1984 ad imagery. I know. People are like, what are you talking about?

Like, look it up, kids. It was a commercial on TV for Apple computers. Look it up, kids. All right, let's bring this back. Let's bring it back here. Where do you want to go next, Bridget? So even though it sounds like they kind of smoothed over their feud, today Azalea Banks is imagining a world without Elon Musk.

According to a piece in Dazed, Banks has announced the release of an upcoming track that appears to imagine Musk's quote, public execution in a now deleted Instagram post. She shared the details of one of two songs that were filtered out of her 30-minute release called Young Rapunzel Part 2.

Set in 30-30, 96 Corolla, parentheses, Motor Man, tells the story of Alon Dust, a wealthy technocrat who devises the perfect scheme to entice poor people into allowing their brains to be used as an interface.

Coincidentally, the venture is called Neurrelink, the name of Must's company that is actually working on mind-reading software. In Banks' song, Alon Dust's quote, neural activity is eventually cut off by the AI Overlord, played by Azalea Banks herself, rendering him a vegetable and erasing him as a threat to humanity. Okay, so they're cool now. Yeah, they sound cool. They sound like, no problem, it's all been buried. Yeah, good buds.

So, first of all, I just find this to be such an interesting moment where my two favorite things, pop culture and tech kind of intersect. So it's like one of the reasons why I'm so obsessed with this story. But I guess the bottom line is, and why I wanted to share this today, was that I think today in 2025, most people, definitely people listening to this podcast, do not have the popular cultural misconception that Elon Musk is this like stable, efficient, good leader, right? But Elon Musk thought it was a good idea to let Azalea Banks's wild ass into his life, into his home, around his partner, around his businesses. And this is the man whose decision-making acumen, we are being told is solid and stable

enough to be leading our country. And I'll just say, we are in danger. I'll just leave it there. We are in danger. Yeah. My God. Do me a favor. Let's not have her on the show. Azelea Biggs? I'm sure it would be entertaining, but like...

Are you out of your mind? The way, if she ever wanted to... She has a... It would be, like, she can come on the show anytime she wants. I mean, then again, what if she's in our, in my house? Like, she won't leave and she's live tweeting everything she sees. Yeah, it just, it seems like playing with fire. On the podcast Who Weekly, Bobby.

Finger once joked that Azealia Banks, an iPhone, and a Wi-Fi connection could take down the whole Trump administration. And this was before Elon was in the administration. This was the first time around. And I firmly believe he is right. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi? You can reach us at hello at tangoody.com. You can also find transcripts for today's episode at tangoody.com.

There are no girls on the internet was created by me, Bridget Todd. It's a production of IHeartRadio and unbossed creative. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our producer. and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow,

rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts from IHeartRadio, check out the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise,

breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment and the stuff nobody gets to hear.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway

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