SpaceX CEO Elon Musk forcefully denied new allegations of sexual harassment on Thursday, casting the claim that he exposed himself to a company flight attendant as a “political” attack meant to derail his acquisition of Twitter, and challenging his accuser to identify tattoos and scars she would have seen if the story were true.
SpaceX paid a company flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual-harassment claim in 2018, over an incident alleged to have taken place in 2016, Business Insider reported Thursday. The flight attendant claimed Musk exposed himself to her during a massage and offered to buy her a horse if she would perform sexual favors, Insider reported, citing documents and interviews.
A friend of the flight attendant signed a declaration in support of the attendant’s allegations. The friend spoke with the Insider, while the flight attendant did not comment.
Musk told the Insider that there is “a lot more to this story” in an emailed statement.
“If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light,” Musk wrote. While Musk asked for more time to comment on the story, he did not respond in time for an extended deadline, the Insider said.
Musk denounced “wild accusations” against him on Twitter late Thursday night, without directly mentioning the Insider report.
“…for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,” Musk wrote. “But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me “exposed” – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.”
But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me “exposed” – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2022
Musk also labeled the accusations a “political” attack that coincided with his vocal stance in favor of free speech on Twitter and his public attacks on the Democratic party.
The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2022
One day before the Insider report was published, Musk took aim at the Democrats as the party of “division & hate” and predicted Democratic partisans would begin using “dirty tricks” to tarnish him.
In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.
Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold … 🍿
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2022
In response to a tweet asking if Musk ever responded to the “reporters from BI,” Musk replied that he did not.
“No, it was clear that their only goal was a hit [piece] to interfere with the Twitter acquisition,” Musk wrote. “The story was written before they even talked to me.”
No, it was clear that their only goal was a hit price to interfere with the Twitter acquisition. The story was written before they even talked to me.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 20, 2022
National Review has reached out to SpaceX and Tesla, where Musk is also CEO, for comment.
Musk agreed to buy Twitter in April in a deal valued at about $44 billion. On Tuesday Musk wrote on the platform that the deal “cannot move forward” unless the company can prove that less than 5 percent of Twitter accounts are fake, as Twitter has previously estimated.