Elon Musk called the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct as a “far-left actress” who has “a major political axe to grind” — and challenged her to verify her claims by describing a part of his anatomy “not known by the public.”
Musk took to Twitter late on Thursday and said that the “wild accusations are utterly untrue.” The allegations were first reported by Insider.
The tech mogul was accused of exposing himself to a flight attendant aboard one of his private planes in 2016 — and SpaceX later paid the woman $250,000 to settle her sexual misconduct claim, according to the bombshell report.
Musk was also accused of rubbing the flight attendant’s leg without permission and offering to buy her a horse if she gave him an erotic massage onboard the plane, Insider reported Thursday, citing documents and interviews.
Hours after Insider published the story, Musk challenged the friend of the accuser who is reported to have been told about the alleged incident soon after it happened.
Musk tweeted: “But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me ‘exposed’ — describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public.”
“She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened.”
Musk was responding on Twitter to a commenter who wondered: “Where were these wild accusations against @elonmusk before he took a stand against the establishment?”
“Exactly,” Musk, who recently announced his intention to buy Twitter and take it private for $44 billion, tweeted.
Musk then went on to describe the woman, a former flight attendant and SpaceX employee who worked on his private jet, as a “far left activist/actress in LA with a major political axe to grind.”
Another Twitter asked Musk if he responded to Insider’s request for comment, to which the world’s richest person 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.”
Musk was quoted in the original Insider article as saying there was “a lot more to this story.”
“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 to Insider. Musk also slammed the news site for publishing a “politically motivated hit piece.”
The alleged incident took place in a cabin aboard one of Musk’s planes during a flight to London.
The attendant told a friend that Musk, who also owns Tesla and is seeking to purchase Twitter, asked her to come into his room during the flight for a massage, according to a declaration written by the friend that was obtained by Insider.
The declaration says during the massage, Musk “exposed his genitals” and then “touched her leg and offered to buy her a horse if she would ‘do more,’ referring to performance of sex acts,” Insider reported.
The flight attendant, who rides horses, declined and finished the massage without engaging in anything sexual, the declaration obtained by Insider states.
Musk also addressed the allegations in multiple Thursday night tweets, saying they were politically motivated.
“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 wrote in one tweet.
“And, for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,” he added in another tweet.
SpaceX officials declined to comment for the Insider story.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
