Ah, the old fruit-and-nuts defense.
Elon Musk continued to push back against an allegation that he exposed himself to a flight attendant by claiming that he doesn’t use flight attendants on his private plane and doesn’t serve meals.
“Astute observers of my plane (and there many) will note that I don’t use a flight attendant,” the world’s richest man tweeted in reply to a news story about the sexual harassment scandal, adding that “Only fruit and & nuts are stocked on the plane. I use flights as an opportunity to fast.”
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What Musk has not denied, however, is that his company, SpaceX, gave the woman a $250,000 payout that included a non-disclosure agreement. And he has not explained why he would have given her that money.
The Tesla boss, who is the middle of a stalled takeover of Twitter, has vacillated between seemingly serious denials and puerile humor since Insider published the accusation.
Quoting an unnamed friend of the alleged victim, the site said that a woman working as cabin-crew member for SpaceX’s fleet was encouraged to get licensed as a masseuse to attend to Musk.
According to the friend, on a 2016 flight, the woman was giving a massage to Musk when he showed her his erect penis, offered to buy her a horse, and asked her to perform a sex act.
The woman herself has not spoken out.
Musk has said the accusation that he exposed himself is untrue and he has branded the story as a political hit job, saying the quoted friend is a left-wing actress out to get him.
But he has also made light of the allegations, at one point saying the matter should be dubbed Elongate.
His Monday tweet came in reply to a Tesla investor who posted a CNBC story about an email SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell sent to employees defending Elon Musk.
“Personally, I believe the allegations to be false; not because I work for Elon, but because I have worked closely with him for 20 years and never seen nor heard anything resembling these allegations,” she said.
As for that NDA? Well, Shotwell says she never publicly discusses legal matters related to employment.
