Eight fired SpaceX engineers have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk accusing the entrepreneur of both sexual harassment and retaliating against workers who complained.
The former staff alleged that Musk created a “perversely sexist culture” at SpaceX that included explicit jokes and references, according to Bloomberg. Some harassment played off of Musk’s Twitter (now X) jokes, the workers said.
Other engineers reportedly used crude sexual references during meetings, and even used sexist jokes as product names. A camera that looked at the Falcon’s second stage from the first was called the “Upskirt Camera,” for instance.
Other leaders were also purportedly involved. A video starring Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell, and human resources VP Brian Bjelde apparently “mocks” sexual harassment, the plaintiffs said.
When the staff wrote an open letter to raise concerns in 2022, Musk supposedly rejected a human resources staffer’s investigation request and instead wanted the writers fired. Shotwell, in turn, demanded that the writers stop and sent a company-wide email declaring that the letter was “overreaching activism.”
The lawsuit quickly follows a Wall Street Journal investigation asserting that Elon Musk had sex with both a SpaceX employee and a former intern he then hired to his executive entourage. Another woman maintained that Musk asked her to bear his children and derided her work performance when she said no.
Shotwell was also accused of retaliation. When she insisted that one of the women had an affair with her husband, she allegedly called for that woman to be ousted from the CEO’s office.
We’ve asked SpaceX for comment. Shotwell rejected the Journal report, arguing that it created a “completely misleading” image of the SpaceX workplace.
The suit also arrived a day before Musk faces a shareholder vote over his proposed $56 billion Tesla compensation package. The arrangement would re-ratify his 2018 package, but it was shot down in a Delaware court and now comes alongside doubts about Musk’s leadership.
SpaceX has made some progress as of late, completing its first successful Starship reentry test. Tesla, however, has dealt with disappointing EV sales and questions about a pivot toward a robotaxi strategy. Musk in particular also drew criticism when he laid off the Supercharger team, only to hire some employees back.