SpaceX has fired a number of staff who wrote and shared a letter criticizing CEO Elon Musk’s habits, studies The New York Instances.

The open letter, first reported by the sting, described Musk’s habits as “a frequent supply of distraction and embarrassment for us, significantly in latest weeks.” He cites SpaceX’s “No Asshole” coverage and calls on the corporate to “publicly deal with and condemn Elon’s damaging Twitter habits.”

The authors of the letter stated: “As our most distinguished CEO and spokesperson, Elon is seen because the face of SpaceX: each tweet Elon sends is a de facto public assertion from the corporate. It’s crucial to make it clear to our groups and our potential pool of expertise that his message doesn’t mirror our work, our mission or our values.”

A number of of the letter’s writers have been fired Thursday afternoon, studies the Instancesciting firm sources, in addition to an e-mail despatched by SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell.

Within the e-mail, Shotwell stated that SpaceX had “terminated a number of staff concerned” with the letter. “The letter, the requests, and the general course of made staff really feel uncomfortable, intimidated and harassed, and/or offended that the letter pressured them into signing one thing that didn’t mirror their views,” Shotwell wrote within the e-mail. “We have now an excessive amount of crucial work to do and we do not want this type of far-reaching activism.”

We have reached out to SpaceX for remark and can replace this story if we hear again.

Musk has lengthy been a risky determine, however since his proposed takeover of Twitter in April, a $44 billion deal that has but to be finalized, his habits has drawn much more consideration. Final month, Nicely-informed particular person reported that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 after Musk allegedly uncovered himself to her and proposed to her. Musk later joked concerning the incident on Twitter, telling one other consumer: “In the event you contact my sausage you may have a horse.”