Elon Musk, the owner of electric car manufacturer Telsa and rocket company SpaceX, has denied allegations that he exposed his penis to a flight attendant before sexually assaulting her on a private jet in 2016.
According to the allegations first published by Business Insider, the flight attendant settled the claim two years later with a $250,000 payout on the condition she signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Details of the alleged incident, however, were leaked by a ‘friend’ of the flight attendant. Neither the friend nor the flight attendant, who worked on private jets owned by SpaceX, has been named by Business Insider.
Musk took to Twitter shortly after the allegations had been published on Thursday to dismiss the “wild accusations” as “utterly untrue”.
“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,” Musk continued in a second tweet.
Later the billionaire businessman said the allegations “should be viewed through a political lens” and suggested the story had been concocted by the Democrats. Musk said he would no longer support the party and would instead vote for the Republicans in future elections.
The friend of the flight attendant said she had been working on a flight in 2016 when she was asked to give Musk a full body massage. When she entered a private part of the cabin, the flight attendant found Musk naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of the body.
During the massage, Musk allegedly exposed his erect penis to the flight attendant and stroked her leg before asking whether she was willing to “do more” in exchange for Musk buying her a horse.
The flight attendant rejected Musk’s advances and later felt like she was “pushed out” of the company. She took on a lawyer in 2018 and won an out of court settlement worth $250,000.
Business Insider says it has emails and other records provided by the friend, as well as a signed declaration provided by the source. Musk said the allegations were the perfect opportunity to use ‘Elongate’ as the scandal name.
