Tesla chief Elon Musk has denied sexually harassing a flight attendant after it was alleged that he exposed himself on a 2016 private jet flight in London. Business Insider reported that Musk paid a member of SpaceX’s cabin crew $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim. The billionaire said the claims were “wild accusations” that were “utterly untrue,” and tweeted that the allegations are politically motivated.
Advertisement
When asked by a Twitter user whether he responded to the reports from Business Insider, Musk replied: “No, it was clear that their only goal was a hit price [sic] to interfere with the Twitter acquisition. The story was written before they even talked to me.”Business Insider reported that the attendant accused the billionaire of exposing his erect penis to her and rubbing her thigh without consent after he had asked her to come to his room during a flight for a “full-body massage”, finding him “completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body.”She also reportedly alleged he offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.Business Insider claims that Musk settled the complaint with a $250,000 payout and the flight attendant signed an NDA after she went to the company’s HR department.The flight attendant herself was not interviewed, and the declaration in support of her claim was given to the news outlet by her friend. The billionaire told Business Insider: “If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light.”Musk added in a second tweet that he was calling this “Elongate”.
He is currently in the middle of a deal to take over Twitter for the sum of $44 billion, although talks have been put on hold until he receives evidence that less than 5% of its users are fake or spam accounts. “Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%,” he tweeted earlier this week. “This deal cannot move forward until he does.”