Fired SpaceX Employees Speak Out About Elon Musk's Alleged Toxic Leadership Nine SpaceX workers were fired after organizing an open letter criticizing Musk. The situation highlights a broader pattern across all of the entrepreneur's companies: a firm grip on free speech.
By Madeline Garfinkle •
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Back in June, a group of SpaceX workers organized and circulated an open letter criticizing some of Elon Musk's behavior, hoping to ignite change.
"Elon's behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us," the document read.
"The letter is a collective 'Hey! We're getting some heat for things that are unrelated to us,'" one SpaceX employee told Reuters at the time.
However, despite what seemed like promising support from managers and peers resulted in nine individuals associated with the letter getting canned.
Related: SpaceX Employees Fired Over Letter Calling CEO Elon Musk An 'Embarrassment'
The letter and firings were addressed in a meeting back in June but never reported on until now, according to The New York Times. Two SpaceX employees in attendance told the outlet that vice president Jon Edwards identified the letter as extremist and a distraction to the company. However, the two employees recalled what they said was the overall message preached at the meeting: Musk can do whatever he wants.
"SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX," the employees recall Edwards saying at one point in the meeting.
The letter, which was viewed by more than 1,000 people in the first few hours and signed by over 400 employees (albeit most of them anonymously), resulted in nine workers getting fired. In the meeting following the letter and employee discharges, Edwards said that the firings were a result of those employees being a distraction to the company, those in attendance told The New York Times.
Related: SpaceX Test Causes a Dumpster Fire—Literally
While the retaliation against the nine employees facing questions of legality, the situation seems to represent a larger pattern across all of Musk's companies: discouraging open discussions.
Tesla, Musk's electric car manufacturing company, has also notoriously pushed back against union efforts, while SpaceX is said to require managers to attend training on how to discourage unions, The New York Times reported.
Musk's most recent acquisition of Twitter follows a similar pattern. After obtaining internal communications between Twitter employees, Musk fired about two dozen who had criticized him.
Despite Musk's continual praise of free speech, the definition seems to have a different meaning to him than it does to those who work for him.
