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March 29, 2024

Private rocket company SpaceX fired employees on Thursday who helped write and distribute an open letter criticizing Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s behavior, three employees with knowledge of the situation said.

On Wednesday, some SpaceX employees began circulating the letter condemning Musk’s activities on Twitter. The letter called the billionaire’s public behavior and tweets “often distracting and embarrassing” and asked the company to rein in him. Musk is currently finalizing a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

By Thursday afternoon, SpaceX had fired some of the letter’s organizers, according to an email from three employees and SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell. In emails obtained by The New York Times, she said the company had investigated and “fired a number of employees related to this letter.”

“The letter, solicitation and general process made employees uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter forced them to sign something that did not reflect their views,” Ms Shotwell wrote. “We have so much important work to do that we don’t need this kind of overly aggressive action.”

It is unclear how many employees were fired. SpaceX spokesman James Gleason did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The open letter comes amid recent public allegations of sexual misconduct against Musk in his takeover of Twitter. On Thursday, Mr. Musk spoke to Twitter employees by video call for the first time since he made the takeover offer to answer their questions.

in May, Insider A flight attendant said Mr Musk offered her a sexual massage on a flight to London in 2016, the report said. He also exposed himself to her and offered her a horse, the flight attendant said. Independently verified by The Times.

Mr Musk called the allegations “totally unrealand joked about the horse and his genitals on Twitter. Last month, Ms Shotwell said in an email to SpaceX employees that she “personally” believed the sexual harassment allegations against Mr Musk were false .

At SpaceX, Musk is rarely challenged by his own employees, three employees said on condition of anonymity. Earlier this month, he emailed company employees that they must work in the office for at least 40 hours or face layoffs.

The open letter about Musk’s online activities asked SpaceX’s leaders to “publicly address and condemn Elon’s harmful behavior on Twitter” and “define and uniformly respond to all forms of unacceptable behavior.”

In an email to employees, Ms Shotwell wrote: “Continuously sending unsolicited emails to thousands of people within the company and asking them to sign letters and fill out unsponsored surveys during the working day is a huge challenge. is unacceptable.”

“Please continue to focus on the SpaceX mission and use your time to do your best work,” she continued. “That’s how we got to Mars.”





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