Elon Musk, who has long been advocating for free-speech, appears to have fired employees for criticising him.
According to reports by The New York Times, SpaceX COO, Gwynne Shotwell, sent an email to her colleagues in the company complaining that:
"...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. We have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism."
Although, it is not known yet exactly how many employees have been fired for criticising Musk, it is at least five, according to Reuters.
This is not the first time that Musk has let people go for disagreeing with him. There are reports that people have been let go in Tesla's factory in California in the past for similar reasons.
In a letter drafted by SpaceX's employees to the company's executives, Musk's behaviour had been described as a "frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks."
The letter read:
"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."
In another letter, drafted in December by former SpaceX engineer Ashley Kosak, SpaceX was accused for not doing enough to police sexual harassment, stating that she "couldn't stop getting sexually harassed."
[Based on reporting by: Futurism]
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