According to two people familiar with the situation, private rocket company SpaceX fired at least five employees after discovering they had drafted and circulated a letter criticising founder Elon Musk and urging executives to make the company’s culture more inclusive.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
According to three employees with knowledge of the situation, the New York Times reported on Thursday that SpaceX had fired employees associated with the letter. It had not specified how many employees had been fired.
According to the New York Times, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell sent an email stating that the company had investigated and “terminated a number of employees involved” with the letter. According to Shotwell’s email, employees involved in the letter’s distribution were fired for making other employees feel “uncomfortable, intimidated, and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their views.”
Billionaire Musk is pursuing a $44 billion bid for Twitter and has stated his support for looser speech controls on the site. He told Twitter employees on Thursday that the platform should allow “pretty outrageous things” as long as the content is not illegal.The SpaceX letter, titled “an open letter to the Executives of SpaceX,” was obtained by Reuters and described Musk as a “distraction and embarrassment” to the company he founded. “SpaceX must swiftly and explicitly separate itself from Elon’s personal brand,” “hold all leadership equally accountable to making SpaceX a great place to work for everyone,” and “define and uniformly respond to all forms of unacceptable behaviour,” according to a list of three demands.
