Grimes slams ‘unhealthy’ internet culture after Selena Gomez becomes ‘X Files monster of the week’

Grimes is absolutely cracking down hard on what she calls “high school level bullying” after a cruel body-shaming post about Selena Gomez went viral on X. The singer, whose real name is Claire Boucher, launched into a lengthy defense of Gomez after blurry, warped stills from the pop star’s new music video, In the Dark, were used by a commenter to criticize her appearance.

One particularly awful tweet claimed Gomez had plastic surgery and had “come out looking like an X Files monster of the week.” Grimes didn’t mince words, calling for accounts to be suspended en masse for body shaming, and even admitted the whole disgusting situation made her think she “might have to leave” the internet altogether.

Trolls clipped what Grimes called “weird derp shots” and began circulating them, twisting them to “super misrepresent” how the star looks. To be fair, this is a classic move by internet bullies, but it’s still awful for anyone, let alone someone as high-profile as Gomez.

Selena doesn’t need this kind of hate

“Besides a few weird derp shots that ppl were able to clip and super misrepresent how she looks she looks extremely beautiful, is prob one of the most beautiful girls,” Grimes wrote on X, directly addressing the horrible comments. It’s a great sentiment that immediately cuts through the negativity.

She continued with a powerful, relatable challenge, asking people to put themselves in Gomez’s shoes. “Imagine what it wud feel like if people talked about you this way,” she penned, before diving into the mental health aspect of this kind of toxic online behavior.

I honestly can’t believe how much mental fortitude a celebrity must have to deal with this constantly, and Grimes clearly agrees. She raised a huge moral question about the people who create and keep these viral attacks up for attention, questioning how we don’t “utterly morally castigate someone who has a post like this blows up and chooses to keep the clout at the expense of everybodies mental health.” It highlights a truth that’s becoming more and more obvious: online “clout” is constantly prioritized over genuine human decency and health.

This is awful for anyone who’s ever been bullied, and Grimes brought up the impact on younger audiences, which is a great point. “How do u think little girls feel reading stuff like this about another woman?” she asked. You can’t just scroll past this and think it doesn’t hurt.

Grimes, who shares three children with X owner and chairman Elon Musk, didn’t stop at just defending Gomez’s beauty. She went on to make a very clear demand for a safer internet, which is something we should all be pushing for. “It shud not be ok to do high school level bullying. Accounts shud be suspended for body shaming en masse,” she stated, “This is disturbing – in part because it’s not even true if u actually watch this video.”

Grimes wrapped up her powerful defense by calling out the broader culture, stating that the internet itself “is unhealthy as f*******,” and for body shaming to be “socially acceptable behavior is culture death – not just for the Selena or the writer but everyone who sees this and engages with this level of dehumanization.”