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'UTTERLY UNTRUE': Elon Musk hits back and says 'attacks' against him are political

'But nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech,' the 50-year-old business magnate tweeted

Elon Musk has fired back at the sexual harassment accusations against him and claimed that the “attacks” are politically motivated. On Thursday, May 19, an Insider report citing a declaration signed by an anonymous friend of a SpaceX flight attendant, who also shared other documents and records with the publication, alleged that the 50-year-old business magnate exposed his genitals to the cabin crew member in 2016. The anonymous attendant also accused Musk of “rubbing her leg without consent and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage,” before he made a payment of $250,000 as severance after a formal complaint was filed.

But the Tesla boss has now refuted all the claims and tweeted, “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.” And when Cucumber Capital CEO Tara Bull shared, “Where were these wild accusations against @elonmusk before he took a stand against the establishment?” Musk replied: “Exactly,” before adding: “And, for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue.”

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The shocking allegations have come as Musk is about to buy Twitter for $44 billion. He also recently declared that he’s changed his political side from being a Democratic to a Republican. Slamming the Insider report, the Chief Engineer at SpaceX posted: “It was clear that their only goal was a hit price to interfere with the Twitter acquisition. The story was written before they even talked to me.”

Musk also challenged the accuser saying, “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.” Below his tweet, Johnna Crider, author at CleanTechnica, noted: “It’s strange how their friend is the one who came forward years after it supposedly happened while claiming they can’t stay silent. It’s a story based on hearsay. ‘My friend said’ No proof.” To which, the wealthiest person in the world added: “Exactly. Moreover, the ‘friend’ in question who gave the interview to BI, is a far left activist/actress in LA with a major political axe to grind.”

The friend of the accuser had talked to Insider in detail about the alleged incident and claimed that it happened in late 2016 inside a London-bound flight. She said that the attendant was called "for a full body massage” by Musk and when she went to his room she saw him “completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body.” The friend also alleged that the CEO of Tesla Motors “touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would 'do more,' referring to the performance of sex acts,” before adding: “He whipped out his penis, it was erect. And he started propositioning her, like he touched her thigh and told her he would buy her a horse. And he basically tried to bribe her to perform some sort of sexual favor.”

The declaration by the friend noted: “Before the incident, she [the attendant] regarded Mr. Musk as a person to look up to. But after he exposed himself, touched her without permission, and offered to pay her for sex, she was full of anxiety.” The friend told Insider, “She [the attendant] figured things could just go back to normal and she would pretend like nothing happened. However, she started to feel as if she was receiving some sort of retaliation where her shifts were cut back, and she was starting to feel really stressed.”

Then in 2018, the attendant got in touch with a “California employment lawyer and sent a complaint to the company's human resources department detailing the episode. In November 2018, Musk, SpaceX and the flight attendant entered into a severance agreement granting the attendant a $250,000 payment in exchange for a promise not to sue over the claims. The agreement also included restrictive non-disclosure and non-disparagement clauses,” Insider added.

However, the friend is reportedly not bound under any such agreement as she said, “I absolutely felt a responsibility to come forward with it, especially now. He is the richest man in the world. Someone with that level of power causing that kind of harm and then throwing some money at the situation, that's not accountability. There are predators all over the world. But when someone is particularly wealthy and powerful, they literally have systems that are like a machine working for them, to set them up to be able to do whatever they want.”

Meanwhile, SpaceX vice president of legal Christopher Cardaci has responded to Insider’s request to comment and he said: “I'm not going to comment on any settlement agreements.” While Musk claimed via email: “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,” as he added that there is "a lot more to this story."