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Technology|SpaceX Said to Fire Employees Involved in Letter Rebuking
Elon Musk
  
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/technology/
spacex-employees-fired-musk-letter.html

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SpaceX Said to Fire Employees Involved in Letter Rebuking Elon Musk

In an email, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president, said the letter had
made other employees "feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied."

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This article is part of our Daily Business Briefing

A letter sent by some SpaceX employees said the public behavior and
tweeting of Elon Musk, above, was "a frequent source of distraction
and embarrassment."
A letter sent by some SpaceX employees said the public behavior and
tweeting of Elon Musk, above, was "a frequent source of distraction
and embarrassment."Credit...Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse -- Getty
Images
Ryan Mac

By Ryan Mac

  * June 17, 2022Updated 2:37 p.m. ET

SpaceX, the private rocket company, on Thursday fired employees who
helped write and distribute an open letter criticizing the behavior
of its chief executive, Elon Musk, said three employees with
knowledge of the situation.

Some SpaceX employees began circulating the letter, which denounced
Mr. Musk's activity on Twitter, on Wednesday. The letter called the
billionaire's public behavior and tweeting "a frequent source of
distraction and embarrassment" and asked the company to rein him in.
Mr. Musk is currently closing a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.

By Thursday afternoon, SpaceX had fired some of the letter's
organizers, according to the three employees and an email from Gwynne
Shotwell, SpaceX's president and chief operating officer. In her
email, which was obtained by The New York Times, she said the company
had investigated and "terminated a number of employees involved" with
the letter.

"The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel
uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the
letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect
their views," Ms. Shotwell wrote. "We have too much critical work to
accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism."

It was unclear how many employees had been fired. James Gleeson, a
SpaceX spokesman, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The open letter followed recently publicized accusations of sexual
misconduct against Mr. Musk amid his contentious acquisition of
Twitter. On Thursday, he addressed Twitter employees for the first
time since his takeover offer via a video call to answer their
questions.

In May, Insider reported that a flight attendant said had Mr. Musk
propositioned her for a sexual massage during a flight to London in
2016. The flight attendant said he had also exposed himself to her
and offered her a horse, according to the article, the details of
which were not verified by The Times.

Mr. Musk called the accusations "utterly untrue" and joked about
horses and his genitalia 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.

Mr. Musk, who has previously been sued by a government regulator and
private individuals for his tweets, founded SpaceX in 2002. Ms.
Shotwell joined that same year. Mr. Musk is also chief executive of
Tesla, the electric automaker.

At SpaceX, Mr. Musk is rarely challenged by his own workers, said the
three employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He notified
the company's workers via email this month that they must spend at
least 40 hours in the office or face firing.

The open letter asked that SpaceX's leaders "publicly address and
condemn Elon's harmful Twitter behavior" and "define and uniformly
respond to all forms of unacceptable behavior."

In her email to staff, Ms. Shotwell wrote, "Blanketing thousands of
people across the company with repeated unsolicited emails and asking
them to sign letters and fill out unsponsored surveys during the work
day is not acceptable."

"Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time to do
your best work," she continued. "This is how we will get to Mars."

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