Elon Musk doubled down on his innocence in a flurry of tweets early Friday, amid allegations he sexually harassed a SpaceX flight attendant in 2016.
The world’s richest man took to Twitter shortly after midnight to explode the claims, described in a Business Insider article published on Thursday, as “completely untrue”. According to the report, based on documents and a series of interviews, SpaceX paid out $250,000, which included a nondisclosure agreement, after its founder was accused of exposing himself and proposing to a sex employee.
“Attacks on me must be seen through a political lens – that’s their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech,” he said. writes Musk.
The incident in question is said to have taken place during a flight to London in 2016, when the CEO of Tesla stripped naked before a massage and offered to buy the woman, an avid equestrian, a horse in exchange for sexual flavors. He was called back for Business Insider by a friend of the flight attendant, who is not bound by the NDA, but spoke on condition of anonymity.
“He pulled his penis out, it was erect,” she said.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/KYR2MGAMSX5OZ7ABW23W6JRFY4.jpg)
Musk also slammed the friend who provided the interview, calling her “a far-left activist/actress in LA with a major political ax to grind.”
“But I challenge this liar who claims his friend saw me ‘exposed’ – just describe one thing, anything (scars, tattoos,…) that is not publicly known “, he tweeted on Friday. . “She won’t be able to do it, because it never happened.”
The 50-year-old billionaire also denied responding to a request for comment from Business Insider, which quoted him as saying there was “a lot more to this story.”
The recent article follows Musk’s vow to vote for Republicans in the next election, even though he had previously voted for Democrats, including former President Barack Obama. It also comes amid Musk’s push to take control of Twitter, a headline-grabbing move already plagued by drama.
Last month, the social media company revealed it had agreed to sell to Musk for $54.20 per share, making him the new owner of the platform, pending regulatory approval from shareholders.
In the weeks that followed, however, Musk clashed with Twitter’s CEO over the number of bots and fake accounts on the platform. He recently announced that the $44 billion deal would not go ahead until the company could clarify the numbers.