Business Insider: SpaceX Flight Attendant Accused Elon Musk of Sexual Harassment

According to Business Insider, a SpaceX flight attendant has accused Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk of exposing himself and propositioning her for sex in 2016. According to the report, Musk offered the woman a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.

According to a report from Business Insider, the flight attendant worked on a contract basis for the SpaceX corporate jet fleet when Musk allegedly exposed his erect penis to her, rubbed her leg, and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage. According to the report, SpaceX paid the flight attendant a $250,000 settlement based on her misconduct claim against Musk.

“The incident, which took place in 2016, is alleged in a declaration signed by a friend of the attendant and prepared in support of her claim,” BI reported. “The details in this story are drawn from the declaration as well as other documents, including email correspondence and other records shared with Insider by the friend.”

“According to the declaration, the attendant confided to the friend that after taking the flight attendant job, she was encouraged to get licensed as a masseuse so that she could give Musk massages,” it continued. “It was during one such massage in a private cabin on Musk’s Gulfstream G650ER, she told the friend, that Musk propositioned her.”

In the declaration, the flight attendant told her friend that Musk asked that she come to his room for a “full body massage” where he was allegedly completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower part of his body. During the massage, the attendant claimed that he exposed his erect genitals and then “touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would ‘do more,’ referring to the performance of sex acts.” Since the flight attendant had a passion for riding horses, the offer was seen as a bribe for a sexual favor.

Business Insider kept both the friend’s identity and the flight attendant’s identity secret.

“He whipped out his penis, it was erect,” the friend told the outlet. “And he started propositioning her, like he touched her thigh and told her he would buy her a horse. And he basically tried to bribe her to perform some sort of sexual favor.”

The flight attendant allegedly revealed this story to her friend while the two were on a hike together after the London trip. “She was really upset,” the friend said. “She didn’t know what to do.”

Work allegedly ceased with Musk after the incident.

“She figured things could just go back to normal and she would pretend like nothing happened,” the friend told the outlet. “However, she started to feel as if she was receiving some sort of retaliation where her shifts were cut back, and she was starting to feel really stressed.”

When asked for comment, Musk said there is “a lot more to this story” and denounced the report as a “politically motivated hit piece.”

“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,” he wrote.

SpaceX vice president of legal Christopher Cardaci likewise said, “I’m not going to comment on any settlement agreements.”

Though Musk did not address the allegations on Twitter, he did say that “attacks” against him should be seen through a political lens.

“The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech,” he tweeted.