A newly released clip from Kanye West’s forthcoming documentary In Whose Name? shows West and Elon Musk discussing their high-profile relationship disputes, including West’s split from Kim Kardashian and Musk’s on-again, off-again romance with the singer Grimes.
The short scene, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter and reported by Page Six, captures Musk and West reclining on a bed as the two men trade awkward, candid remarks. “So are you and Kim off and on or something? Or, I don’t know. It’s hard to tell,” Musk asks West in the clip. The Grammy-winning rapper offers an uneasy laugh and does not directly answer before Musk shifts to describing his relationship with Grimes.
Musk, 54, tells West that his texts with Grimes — born Claire Elise Boucher — often swung from affectionate to hostile. “Clare and I, Grimes, we’re sort of in the same text stream, she’s like, ‘I love you.’ And then like, a day later, like, ‘I hate you,’” Musk says in the clip. When West asks, “And what do you do?” Musk replies, “You probably know exactly. I’m like, ‘Whoa, OK,’” prompting another nervous laugh from West. The two fall silent before West says, “I don’t have the answers. Answers to everything except for that.”
While together, Musk and Grimes had three children: a 5-year-old son, X Æ A-Xiii; a 4-year-old daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl; and a 3-year-old son, Techno Mechanicus. Their relationship, which began in 2018, ended in 2022 and has since been marked by public disputes over custody and privacy. Grimes has posted on X that she had not seen one of the children in five months during negotiations and criticized public appearances by the couple’s eldest child after Musk brought him to a meeting at the White House. Grimes also alleged earlier this year that Musk had ignored a “medical crisis” involving one of their children. Musk is a father of 14 children with four women, according to reporting.
The clip also touches on West’s fraught co-parenting relationship with his ex-wife Kim Kardashian. West and Kardashian separated in 2021 after seven years of marriage and four children: North, 12; Saint, 9; Chicago, 7; and Psalm, 6, according to the documentary footage and reporting. West has used X to complain about not being allowed to make decisions about his children’s schooling and wardrobe, writing in March that he did not want to merely “see” his kids but to “raise them” and have a say in their lives.
Page Six reported that a dispute intensified after West featured his eldest daughter on a track with Sean “Diddy” Combs, a decision that prompted a heated exchange with Kardashian. Kardashian appears in the documentary and, in an August trailer, is seen breaking down while telling West, “Your personality was not like this a few years ago.” In other footage from the trailer, West angrily tells someone, “Never tell me I’m gonna wake up one day and have nothing!”
In Whose Name?, which features interviews and extensive footage of West’s life and relationships, is scheduled to begin a limited theatrical run on Friday. The documentary has already drawn attention for its intimate and, at times, confrontational portrayals of West’s personal life and interactions with public figures. The clip of West and Musk adds another moment to the public record of disputes over parenting, privacy and personal conduct involving several of the participants.
The filmmakers, and representatives for West, Musk and Kardashian, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Hollywood Reporter published the clip and a report highlighting the exchange between Musk and West; Page Six also published coverage based on that material.
The theatrical release follows earlier promotional trailers that have shown emotional confrontations and candid conversations, and the film’s release is expected to spur further discussion about West’s behavior, his relationships with high-profile collaborators and the influence of fame on personal conflicts. The documentary’s wider distribution plans beyond the limited theatrical run have not been disclosed in the clip and reports reviewed for this story.