Elon Musk has come across a Business Insider report where he is accused of sexually harassing a stewardess during a private flight, a situation that led SpaceX to pay $250,000 to the alleged victim to prevent the disclosure of the story. Through his Twitter account, the businessman denied the article and spoke of political motivations behind it, as well as an alleged attempt to interfere in the purchase of said social network.
” Attacks against me must be viewed through a political lens. This is your (despicable) standard playbook, but nothing will stop me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech,” Musk tweeted to his more than 94 million followers.
In turn, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX also referred to the alleged incident in a series of responses to other tweets, where he maintained the falsehood of the same. “For the record, these wild accusations are completely false. But I have a challenge for this liar who claims her friend saw me “exposed”: describe just one thing, anything (scars, tattoos) that is not known to the public. She won't be able to do it, because it never happened,” he added. If you still don't quite understand what this story is about, don't worry, we'll explain it below.A Business Insider article published yesterday, Thursday, indicates that, in 2016, Elon Musk sexually harassed a stewardess during a flight privately on a SpaceX corporate plane According to the publication, the tycoon undressed in front of her, touched her leg without consent, and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage .
The woman would have gone to a labor lawyer in 2018, considering that her job at SpaceX had been harmed by not accepting Elon's advances Musk. Specifically, it is mentioned that the company would have cut her work shifts, which the employee considered a retaliation for her refusal of the employer's requests.
Thus, according to the report, a complaint was filed with SpaceX Human Resources exposing the incident. To prevent the situation from going to court, the aerospace firm would have paid $250,000 to the stewardess in exchange for her silence . The money would have been accompanied by a confidentiality agreement by which he could not publicly express himself in bad terms about Musk, Tesla or SpaceX, nor refer to the event or the payment in question.
A An important point to note is that the Business Insider article is based on statements and documents from a friend of the alleged victim of sexual harassment, and not the flight attendant herself. Elon Musk has taken this to claim that it is false and politically motivated. “The 'friend' in question who gave the interview is a far left activist/actress from Los Angeles with a significant political interest,” he tweeted.
Asked if he had actually responded to the Business Insider reporters about the facts cited in the article, the tycoon said no. “No, it was clear their only goal was to stage a hit to interfere with the takeover of Twitter. The story was written even before they contacted me,” he said.
Did you open the umbrella before it started to rain?
However, Elon Musk's point has been disputed by John Cook, Business Insider Research Editor. As published on its Twitter account, the aforementioned media outlet contacted SpaceX executives —including Musk— around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 18.
In this way, Cook hinted that the businessman was aware that a story would soon be published that would leave him in a bad light, and that he chose to apply a kind of contingency measure. That same Wednesday afternoon, Elon Musk posted a couple of tweets that quickly drew attention. “Political attacks against me will increase dramatically in the coming months,” he said in one.
While in the other he spoke about his intention to vote for the Republican Party in the next elections in the United States. As expected, this generated a flood of responses. “In the past, I voted for the Democrats because they were (mostly) the party of kindness. But they have become the party of division and hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, look how your campaign of dirty tricks against me unfolds,” he mentioned.
The tweet seemed like nothing more than one of Elon Musk's typical provocations on your favorite social network. However, the comments he has made after the publication of the Business Insider article seem to give a different connotation to those sayings.
Elon Musk already has his precious 'Elongate'
With crossed accusations and an always sensitive topic such as sexual harassment on the table, Elon Musk has not missed the opportunity to mock . “Finally we can use Elongate as a scandal name,” he posted, alongside a laughing emoji, quoting a tweet from March 2021. “If there is ever a scandal about me please call it Elongate,” he had said at the time.
We'll see how this story progresses. For now, the tycoon has come out determined to defend himself on social networks, where it is known that he never escapes controversy.
