Last week, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell released a company-wide memo in response to a story of sexual assault charges against CEO Elon Musk, stating she doesn’t think the allegations are real. The email, which was originally published by CNBC and seen by The Verge, also repeated SpaceX’s “ZERO TOLERANCE” harassment policy.
“I personally feel the claims are untrue; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for the past 20 years and have never seen or heard anything approximating these allegations,” Shotwell stated in the email. “Anyone who knows Elon as well as I do understand that he would never engage in or condone this alleged improper behaviour.”
According to a report published by Business Insider last week, SpaceX paid a former company flight attendant $250,000 after she accused Musk of exposing himself and proposing to her while giving him a massage. Musk has now rejected the charges, saying that there’s “a lot more to this tale” and that the report was a “politically driven attack job.”
“If I were inclined to participate in sexual harassment, this would not be the first time it came to light in my whole 30-year career,” Musk told Business Insider.
Shotwell stated in an email to SpaceX workers headlined “The recent press story” that “any charge of harassment is taken extremely seriously, regardless of who is involved,” and that SpaceX HR examines all accusations. She made no mention of the claimed payment of $250,000. “I will never comment on any legal proceedings concerning employment difficulties for privacy reasons,” Shotwell added.
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