SpaceX has fired several employees involved in preparing an “open letter” criticizing Elon Musk’s behavior in the public sphere. This is explained by a message sent to employees by the director of operations of the space exploration company, the existence and content of which were confirmed to AFP by one of them.
The open letter in preparation, unveiled by the website The Verge, criticized Elon Musk’s behavior in the public sphere, as well as recent accusations of sexual harassment against him, as “a frequent source of distraction and shame for” the employees.
“As the most prominent boss and spokesperson, Elon is considered the face of SpaceX – every tweet he sends is considered a de facto public statement coming from the company, particularly in recent weeks.” was it particularly written.
A “small group” of employees sent this letter to all their colleagues asking for their possible signature and their participation in a survey, wrote the director of operations of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell in her e-mail sent Thursday at the end of the day to all the staff.
“Disproportionate activism”
After conducting an investigation, the company decided to lay off “a number of employees involved”, she said without specifying how many, believing that the company had “too much essential work to do” and “no need of this kind of excessive activism”.
Some felt “uncomfortable and intimidated and/or angry because the letter urged them to sign something that did not reflect their opinion” or because the letter “interfered with their ability to concentrate on their work added the manager. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request from AFP.
The boss of SpaceX, but also of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and several start-ups, is a regular in controversies on Twitter with regular virulent messages, sometimes cryptic, sometimes insulting. But it has taken on a new dimension since announcing in April that it wanted to buy the social network.