Grimes Defends ‘Beautiful’ Selena Gomez From ‘High School Level Bullying’ Online: ‘This Is Disturbing’

Grimes is coming to the defense of Selena Gomez, as well as all other women whose appearances are routinely criticized online.

In response to a viral post on X — in which a user had posted screenshots of the Rare Beauty founder’s “In the Dark” music video and written that she looked like an “X Files monster” — the hyper-pop singer-producer wrote Saturday (Oct. 25) that she might have to “leave” the internet because of all the “unhealthy as f–k” content.

“Watched this Selena Gomez video, 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 began. “Imagine what it [would] feel like if people talked about you this way. Try to imagine the mental fortitude she presumably has. How do we not 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.”

“How do u think little girls feel reading stuff like this about another woman?” she continued. “This might be vaguely the second gen of women being allowed to be over 30 in entertainment if u can even count the first gen as anything besides a few outliers. It shud not be ok to do high school level bullying.”

Grimes went on to say that she thinks accounts posting derogatory things about women’s appearances should be “suspended for body shaming en masse.”

“This is disturbing – in part because it’s not even true if u actually watch this video,” she added. “This being 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.”

Ruthless scrutiny of women’s looks isn’t new to the internet, but it certainly isn’t getting any better with time. It’s one of several reasons why Grimes has previously criticized social media, writing in July that it was “profoundly clear” to her that X — which just so happens to be owned by her ex-partner Elon Musk, with whom she shares three children — is “a poison.”

The artist’s latest post comes shortly after the release of her new single, “Artificial Angels,” which she’s been teasing is just the first taste of a whole batch of new music coming soon. In the single’s accompanying video, Grimes debuted her new face tattoo — not that anyone realized she had it.

“I got a face tattoo a few months ago and literally nobody noticed, not even my parents lol,” Grimes wrote Oct. 22, sharing a photo of the new faded red ring permanently inked around her left eye. “Idky this face tattoo is imperceptible but just for the record it’s my fave tat.”