Rhiannon Ingle
People have hit out at Elon Musk for 'breaking rules' after he hosted a press conference at the Oval Office with his four-year-old son in tow.
On Tuesday (11 February), the 53-year-old Tesla CEO and Trump, 78, answered a series of questions from reporters to witness the latter sign an executive order requiring federal agencies to cooperate with the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut costs after facing pushback last week.
While Musk, who has had 12 children with three different women, answered questions from the press, his son X Æ A-Xii - X for short - seemed to be quite the distraction as he pulled a number of faces, interrupted his father and even appeared to wipe his bogies on the Resolute desk.
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The whole thing hasn't gone down well with a fair few people online, with many rushing to social media to call Musk - who is the head of DOGE - out for his 'unprofessionalism'.
One Twitter user slammed: "America is a joke. Bringing a child to work during conferences is unprofessional especially if the child speaking while you interviewed."
"How unprofessional - with all the money Elon Musk has surely he can afford a baby sitter! How dare he bring his kid into the Oval Office in front of the world’s press - this is what we have come to," hit out a second.
And a third commented: "I will actually donate some of my taxpayer dollars so that Elon Musk can get a damn babysitter. How unprofessional is this?"
Another went as far as to claim the presence of Musk's toddler in the Oval Office totally went against 'Trump's rules', as they penned: "Elon even defies all of Trump’s rules! The dress code, and no kids allowed in the oval office or at work, proving once again that he is in charge and Trump is not.
"Musk and his 4 yr old son both interrupted Trump and Trump looked very angry and turned away from the kid."
While it may have rubbed people up the wrong way, there is actually no official rule that children can't enter the Oval Office.
Meanwhile, Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, has since hit back at Musk for taking their son to the press conference.
She took to social media to issue a statement on the matter, writing: "He should not be in public like this. I did not see this, thank u for alerting me. But I'm glad he was polite. Sigh."
Musk and Grimes welcomed X to the world back in May 2020.
The couple dated for four years before eventually deciding to part ways for good two years after X's birth in 2022.
They also share two other children together; Techno Mechanicus, two, as well as daughter Exa Dark Sideræl, three.