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A handful of SpaceX employees have been fired for penning a letter that critiqued the company's CEO, Elon Musk.
The letter raised concerns about Musk's public behavior negatively impacting SpaceX's image.
It read in part:
"Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks."
“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.”
Musk was called out for problematic and unusual statements in the past.
Earlier this year, the billionaire was accused of sexually harassing and paying off a flight attendant.
The letter writers referred to the incident, saying it goes against the company's "No A**holes" and sexual misconduct policies.
According to The Verge, employees were urged to sign the letter and many agreed with the points discussed in an internal Microsoft Team's channel. It is unknown how many signatures the letter collected.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell confirmed the sackings via a company wide email that read in part:
“The letter, solicitations and general process made employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views."
She also defended her boss, saying:
“Personally, I believe the allegations to be false; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for 20 years and never seen nor heard anything resembling these allegations.”
“Anyone who knows Elon like I do, knows he would never conduct or condone this alleged inappropriate behavior.”
Twitter users reacted to news of the firings, pointing out Musk's past lauding of "free speech" meaning freedom from consequences.
\u201c@nytimes Elon "Free Speech" Musk fires people for speech he didn't like.\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes No more support for free speech?\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes So @elonmusk is all about the free speech for me but not for thee. How very predictable\u2026\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes Apparently he's all for free speech... until it criticizes him.\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes So much for being the king of free speech. \n\nMan is literally trying to buy twitter so people will stop making fun of him all the time \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes I thought @elonmusk was saying something about freedom of speech??\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes @BlackKnight10k Gee, thinking of all those people that claimed he only wanted to buy Twitter to silence his critics. Where would they get an idea like that?\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
Others criticized the company's culture and current state of affairs.
\u201c@nytimes Maybe it was not the best call to give the power over so many workers and this much money to a man having his midlife crisis \u2026\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes Good luck to SpaceX in ever enticing the best minds to work there ever again.\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes Wow, sounds like an amazing place to work! Where do I apply?\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes My son-in-law and his doctorate from Cambridge, quit last week. \nHe predicted a mass exodus from Tesla over a month ago.\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes A thin-skinned billionaire can't handle criticism from his kingdom?\n\nShocking.\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
\u201c@nytimes He\u2019s going to find out that he\u2019s not that brilliant when all of his talented employees follow their fired friends out the door to the competition. So glad I\u2019m not a shareholder of anything he runs and I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying that!\u201d— The New York Times (@The New York Times) 1655452806
The letter is no surprise.
Workers all over the United States are no longer tolerating bad behavior in their leadership.
Musk himself has not commented on the firings or the letter.