Musk denies allegations of sexual misconduct by host | national news

New York (AFP) – Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied an allegation of sexual misconduct by a Space X-contracted flight attendant who worked on his private jet in 2016.

A report from Business Insider said SpaceX paid the woman $250,000 in 2018 for her agreement not to sue over her claim.

Business Insider’s report was based on the host’s friend’s account, who said the flight attendant told her about the incident shortly after it happened. The report also said that the host was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement that prevents her from discussing payment or anything else about Musk and SpaceX.

Emails seeking comment were sent to SpaceX, which Musk founded.

Musk, who is in the process of buying Twitter, used the platform to respond to the claim.

“And for the record, those wild accusations are totally untrue,” he wrote in response to a user who tweeted in support of him.

Reply to another: “In 30 years of my career, including the entire MeToo era, there’s nothing to report, but as soon as I say I intend to restore freedom of speech on Twitter and vote Republican, suddenly there is…”

He also highlighted the accusation, citing a tweet of his own from 2021 in which he said that if there was a scandal about it, it should be called “Elongate”.

“Finally, we’re using Elongate as a scandalous name. It’s kind of perfect,” he tweeted on Friday.

According to the report, the hostess, who trained as a masseuse so she could massage the musk, said that Musk exposed herself to her during the massage, rubbed her leg, and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.

Several hours before the Business Insider report was published, Musk tweeted that he had previously voted Democrats but will now vote Republican and suggested the left wage a “dirty tricks campaign” against him.

Musk, who was in Brazil on Friday to meet President Jair Bolsonaro, offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, but said the deal could not go ahead until the company provided information about the number of accounts on the spammy platform or bots.

SpaceX has previously faced allegations of sexual harassment of women by male workers. A former female engineer at SpaceX, who started as an intern, wrote an article online last year describing repeated sexual harassment attempts and other harassment she experienced. The company “was riddled with sexism, and the only remedy was for the woman to leave,” she said.

After the allegations surfaced publicly in December, SpaceX president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, sent an email to employees stressing the importance of “timely reporting” of harassment and discrimination, and said the company would vigorously investigate them, according to reports at the time from the New York Times and outlets. Other news.