According to an email sent to the entire company that was obtained by The New York Times, a top executive at the rocket manufacturer SpaceX stated that she “personally” believed that sexual harassment accusations levelled against Elon Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive, were untrue. Musk is being accused of sexually harassing multiple employees.
Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said in an email that she had worked closely with Mr. Musk for the last 20 years and claimed that she had “never seen nor heard anything approximating these accusations.” The email was issued on Friday. She went on to say that anybody who knows Elon as well as she does would understand that he would never engage in or condone the alleged improper behaviour.
Ms. Shotwell was responding to a report that was published by Business Insider the previous week. According to the report, Mr. Musk allegedly asked a flight attendant for a sexual massage when they were travelling to London in 2016. In addition to that, he showed the attendant his naked body and promised her a horse.
According to Business Insider, the unnamed lady retained the services of an employment lawyer in 2018 and communicated her grievance to the human resources department of SpaceX. Later on in same year, SpaceX reached a settlement with the lady, giving her $250,000 in return for a guarantee that she would not sue over the charges.
CNBC first reported on Ms. Shotwell’s email, and a request for a statement from SpaceX was sent in about the matter. However, a SpaceX spokeswoman did not react to the request. The Times was provided with a copy of the document by two individuals who had access to it.
