Musk defends himself against drug allegations as SpaceX and Tesla investors rail
An investigation by the Wall Street Journal into the drug use of SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has left executives expressing concern about his treatment of employees. Musk’s lawyer has denied all allegations.
According to anonymous testimony collected by the WSJ Musk’s behavior increasingly worries his colleagues at Tesla and SpaceX.
It was reported that at the parties he attends, Musk takes many precautions to prevent any leaks. For example, guests must sign non-disclosure agreements. They are also prohibited from bringing their phones. So far, this has been sufficient to prevent tangible evidence from leaking out. But it is impossible to silence everyone.
The WSJ subsequently collected testimony indicating that Musk would use hard drugs such as LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, hallucinogenic mushrooms and also ketamine.
These practices, in addition to being illegal and dangerous to his health, also worry members of the board of directors of SpaceX and Tesla who asked his brother, Kimbal (currently at Tesla and a member of SpaceX’s board of directors until 2022) to admonish him. However, this had no visible effect. It is even common for Kimbal to use drugs with his brother.
To justify the concerns of Musk’s colleagues, the WSJ gave some examples of decisions that were presumably made under the influence, including a 2017 SpaceX corporate meeting where Musk arrived an hour late and gave a completely incoherent speech. The company’s chairman eventually took over the meeting. Other examples included an August 2018 tweet about a possible Tesla withdrawal from the stock market – which earned him sanctions from the SEC.
According to the American newspaper, this even led to the departure of former Tesla chief executive Linda Johnson Rice. She had had enough of Musk’s unstable behavior.
Musk’s public displays of erratic behaviour extended to a famous guest spot on the Joe Rogan Podcast where he openly smoked a joint while in conversation.
Musk’s behavior is all the more worrisome within SpaceX. This company is – by far – the private company that works most closely with NASA. That, as a government organization, is naturally particularly strict on discipline and especially on the use of drugs.
“NO TRACE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL,” MUSK REPLIED
On X, Musk assured that everything he was accused of is untrue. “After that first trek with Rogan, I agreed to three years of random drug testing at NASA’s request,” he stated. “Not a single trace of drugs or alcohol was found.”
According to attorney Alex Spiro, Musk is “regularly and randomly tested for drugs at SpaceX and has never failed a test.”
Musk then used his familiar irony, proud of his successes at the head of Tesla and SpaceX. “Whatever I do, of course I have to keep doing it!” he wrote. And added: “If drugs would really help me improve my net productivity over time, I would definitely take them!”
It’s notable that Musk’s own companies have fairly strict anti-drug policies – sniffer dogs are regularly used at SpaceX for random testing of employees.
News Wires
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers