SpaceX Fires At Least 5 Execs Over Letter Critical Of Elon Musk's Antics

SpaceX dismissed at least five employees after it was discovered that they had drafted and disseminated a letter criticizing founder Elon Musk and urging officials to make the company's culture more inclusive, according to Reuters' Joey Roulette and Eric M. Johnson.

Photo Insert: The firing confirmed the toxic environment at SpaceX, where Musk hoped to put one million people on Mars and run car races on the Moon.

The New York Times reported on Thursday, June 16, that SpaceX had fired employees associated with the letter. According to the New York Times, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell sent an email saying the company had investigated and "terminated a number of employees involved" with the letter.

The firing confirmed the toxic environment at SpaceX, where Musk hoped to put one million people on Mars and run car races on the Moon.

Citing the original open letter, Darrell Etherington of Tech Crunch said the employees not only called on SpaceX to "publicly address and condemn Elon's harmful Twitter behavior," but also to better define its broad internal policies against what constitutes acceptable behavior by employees, and for leadership to take advantage for ensuring it lives up to its high standards as a workplace.”

Just this past week, Musk has taken heat for publicly backing newly-elected congresswoman Mayra Flores, a Texas Republican with a history of promoting QAnon, on Twitter even as he falsely maintains his political leanings are "moderate."

The letter, headed "an open letter to the Executives of SpaceX," seen by Reuters, called Musk a "distraction and embarrassment" to the company he founded.

In a list of three demands, it said "SpaceX must swiftly and explicitly separate itself from Elon's personal brand," "hold all leadership equally accountable to making SpaceX a great place to work for everyone" and "define and uniformly respond to all forms of unacceptable behavior."

Employees at SpaceX have criticized Musk for his inflated ego, unnecessary squabbles with US President Joe Biden, and his refusal to admit that his Tesla venture profited from a $465 million federal subsidy and the sale of carbon credits, and that his car company has only made money in the last two years.

Musk has been in the news and late-night comedy monologues in recent months, including his attempt to buy social media giant Twitter, a reported allegation of sexual harassment, and his kneeling before Chinese authorities to apologize for technical problems with his electric cars.

The open letter at SpaceX, which was first reported by The Verge, was drafted in recent weeks by SpaceX employees and shared as an attachment in an internal "Morale Boosters" group chat that includes thousands of employees.

Musk, who is also the company's chief engineer, is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in many of SpaceX's high-profile achievements, including pioneering the reuse of orbital rocket boosters and resuming routine human spaceflight from US soil after a nine-year hiatus.

Gwynne Shotwell, President of SpaceX, oversees many of the company's day-to-day operations. She has vowed to enforce SpaceX's "zero tolerance" standards against employee harassment but has said nothing about Musk’s recent obnoxious behavior.

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