No, you didn’t imagine it. Kim Kardashian was seen snuggled up to a Tesla robot this week, and the backlash from her beleaguered fans has been hilarious and swift.
The scantily-clad SKIMS founder was seen on social media seemingly flirting with a gold Tesla robot named Optimus in a series of photos for her latest collaboration with Balenciaga.
As the robot sat in an unreleased gold Tesla Cybertruck, Kardashian struck a number of sultry poses, squatting in front of the car with her legs open and draping herself across the robot’s lap. She wore nothing more than a garter belt, lacy Balenciaga leggings, and a bomber jacket.
Pointy-toed black heels from the Spanish fashion house completed the spicy look, but her followers had too much fun trolling her to notice the fashion.
“She finally gets a man she can control,” wrote one on Instagram. “Is she mentally stable?” asked another, followed by the prediction that “Kim and robot sex tape coming soon.”
Kardashian also shared a video of the robot cab driver on X, in which she flirtatiously greets him, saying, “Hi, sir,” with a giggle.
“Optimus is here to take mw [sic] for a ride in the Cybercab,” she captioned the video. The post prompted more than 1,300 mixed responses, split between “We’re doomed!” and “That’s hot.”
A close-up shot of Kim’s hand entwined with the robot’s cold mechanical fingers was among the intimate snaps she posted to social media on Nov. 19.
Between comments like “This is so weird” and “I hate this for mankind,” the Elon Musk-owned company’s official account popped up on her Instagram account with an attempt to lighten the mood, writing, “Optimus asked if you’re still on for dinner this Friday.”
The question is: which Optimus? This is not the only robot man the mother of four has flaunted on her socials recently.
Optimus is here to take mw for a ride in the Cybercab pic.twitter.com/gxOSbsY3vv
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) November 19, 2024
A day earlier, on Nov. 18, Kim posted a video of a new all-white $30,000 Tesla bot — apparently a standard-issue model that some believe was gifted by Elon Musk.
“Can you do this? I love you?” she asked as she and her new automaton made the hand-heart gesture together, causing her to gasp audibly in astonishment, “You know how to do that?” It sounded like love at first sight.
“Yall think this is cute until it turn into the Terminator,” wrote one in the comment section of The Jasmine Brand’s post, referring to the famous cyborg assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Kim K has the Tesla Bot
pic.twitter.com/a028o1lMV0
— Billy Madison (@BMS_Billy) November 19, 2024
“I guess no one seen I Robot??? Craziness!!” said another referencing the killer bots in the 2004 sci-fi film starring Will Smith.
Others suspect it’s all a paid promotion, “This is called marketing folks. She’s getting paid to advertise the robot.”
Regardless of whether it’s a marketing ploy gone haywire, one thing’s for sure. As a fan put it, “Rich people are exhausting.”