Elon Musk’s “SpaceX” fired several employees after they wrote an open letter criticizing Musk, according to reports.
Several employees wrote the letter and began sending it around Wednesday, The New York Times (NYT) reported. The letter reportedly criticized Musk and said his behavior is “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment.”
The letter reportedly asked company leaders to “publicly address and condemn Elon’s harmful Twitter behavior” and “define and uniformly respond to all forms of unacceptable behavior.”
SpaceX terminated some of the employees who spearheaded the letter Thursday afternoon, an email obtained by the NYT from SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer Gwynn Shotwell appeared to show. (RELATED: Biden Admin Opens Another Front In Its War On Elon Musk’s Business Empire)
Axiom’s four-man team lifts off, riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Thom Baur
“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,” Shotwell wrote in an email, according to the NYT. “We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”
“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,” Shotwell continued, according to the NYT. “Please stay focused on the SpaceX mission, and use your time to do your best work. This is how we will get to Mars.”
Shotwell has defended Musk against recent sexual misconduct allegations, saying the allegations were completely out of character for anyone who knows Musk. Musk was accused of inappropriate conduct toward a flight attendant in 2016. Musk called the accusations “wild” and denied them.