SpaceX Employees Denounce Musk's Behavior

The Verge headline: SpaceX employees draft open letter to company executives denouncing Elon Musk’s behavior
Subheadline: Every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company’

By Loren Grush@lorengrush Jun 16, 2022, 9:05am EDT

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/16/23170228/spacex-elon-musk…

An open letter to SpaceX decrying CEO Elon Musk’s recent behavior has sparked open discussion among the company’s employees in an internal chat system. Employees are being encouraged to sign onto the letter’s suggestions, either publicly or anonymously, with a signed version of the letter to be delivered to the desk of SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell.

The letter, reviewed by The Verge, describes how Musk’s actions and the recent allegations of sexual harassment against him are negatively affecting SpaceX’s reputation. The document claims that employees “across the spectra of gender, ethnicity, seniority, and technical roles have collaborated on” writing the letter. It’s not known which SpaceX employees wrote the letter; the employees who posted the letter in the internal chat system have not responded to requests for comment.

“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter states. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”

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Meanwhile, on the $TWTR side of things, Musk ingratiates himself with employees there by showing up 10 minutes late and running a meeting from his handheld cellphone.

https://twitter.com/alexeheath/status/1537471781123936256

This didn’t take very long. On the way out through the gift shop please pick up your last paycheck in Dogecoin. And remember NDA is not a rap group from Compton, California. Thank-you. And now you are banished for life from the Kingdom of Elon.

The Verge headline: SpaceX fires employees who wrote open letter complaining about Elon Musk
SpaceX’s president criticized the letter as ‘overreaching activism’

By James Vincent and Loren Grush Jun 17, 2022, 3:33am EDT

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/17/23172262/spacex-fires-emp…

SpaceX has fired a number of employees who wrote and shared a letter criticizing the behavior of CEO Elon Musk, with the company’s president criticizing the letter as “overreaching activism.”

The open letter, first reported by The Verge, described Musk’s behavior as “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks.” It cites SpaceX’s “No A******” policy and asks the company to “publicly address and condemn Elon’s harmful Twitter behavior.”

Said the letter writers: “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.”