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Open Letter by Group of SpaceX Employees: "He Is an Embarrassment"

A group of SpaceX employees has prepared an open letter to the executives of the company. The letter has multiple points, and several of them involve Elon Musk. To be specific, company employees are not happy with the fact that Elon's actions on social media are confused with the company.
Elon Musk during presentation on Tesla Live feed 7 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video by Tesla
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While Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX and also its founder, some employees feel that he is both a "distraction and embarrassment." The employees who wrote the letter note that every tweet that Elon sends is viewed as a "de facto public statement by the company."

As you can imagine, not everything that Elon does or says is related to SpaceX. Moreover, SpaceX employees, as well as employees of other companies, have the right to disagree with the CEO of the company that employs them.

Doing so in an open letter is a frequently encountered way of expressing such doubts, and we know this because these letters often get leaked or are supplied directly to the press.

The folks over at The Verge have published the letter in full. It has three main requests. The first is related to Elon's Twitter behavior.

Since the CEO of SpaceX has signed an agreement to buy the social network, one cannot help but wonder how such a request can be fulfilled. Thankfully, the letter explains. It asks for SpaceX to distance itself from Elon's comments on Twitter.

The employees who created the letter also want to hold all company leaders accountable to make SpaceX a "great place to work for everyone." While the letter does not put a finger on the issue, it does mention "applying a critical eye to issues that prevent employees from fully performing their jobs."

The open letter also asks for transparency within the company, as well as rigor and urgency in solving these problems as if they were related to hardware. The last request in the open letter refers to a clear definition of the company's rules, specifically the "no-asshole," and the "zero-tolerance" policies that are not entirely clear to all employees, as well as the repercussions for unacceptable behavior, which are either not clear, or not applied in a uniform manner.

SpaceX has not yet issued a press release regarding the letter.

Update 11:10 UTC: SpaceX has reportedly fired several employees who wrote the letter. The open letter was criticized by the company's president, Gwynne Shotwell, as being "overreaching activism," among other statements. You can read her letter to the company in the press release section below.
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Editor's note: For illustration purposes, the photo gallery shows various images of Elon Musk.

press release
About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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