Elon Musk a 'Distraction', Group of SpaceX Employees Allegedly Complain in Letter

Employees at SpaceX have written an internal letter to executives of the rocket company expressing concern about the behavior of CEO Elon Musk and calling for improvements to workplace culture, according to a report.

"Elon's behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks," reads the letter, which was posted Wednesday to an internal Microsoft Teams channel, according to a report Thursday from The Verge. "It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values."

Musk, who's also the head of electric-car company Tesla, is outspoken on Twitter and has more than 98 million followers. He's rankled people with tweets critics have called sexist and juvenile, among other things. The letter from SpaceX employees reportedly said that every tweet from Musk is seen as a "de facto public statement by the company."

SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.

The employees are asking the company to hold leadership responsible for fostering an inclusive workplace and to clearly define and enforce workplace culture policies. They specifically asked leadership to condemn the CEO's Twitter behavior. Musk is also trying to buy Twitter.

The letter comes nearly a month after reports that the company paid a $250,000 settlement to a flight attendant who said Musk exposed himself to her. Musk denied the allegations on Twitter, calling them "utterly untrue." SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also reportedly defended Musk in an email to employees, saying she'd worked "closely with him for 20 years and never seen nor heard anything resembling these allegations."

Multiple women last year made allegations of sexual harassment at SpaceX, including a former engineer who wrote in an essay that the company's culture was in a "state of disrepair and dysfunction so great that the only remedy, finally, was to leave."

Tesla has also faced lawsuits over sexual harassment at one of its plants and was sued in February by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for alleged racial discrimination and harassment.

Tesla said in a blog post at the time that it "strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment and has a dedicated Employee Relations team that responds to and investigates all complaints."

It's unclear how many SpaceX employees have signed the letter to executives. It's reportedly expected to be delivered to the desk of Shotwell.

June 17, 2022