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Elon Musk cracks penile joke amid timely pile-on over sexual assault allegation

May 20, 2022 | | Print Article

Billionaire investor Elon Musk doesn’t appear to be sweating a sexual harassment allegation that the establishment media seemingly pulled up from out of thin air, in part because he’s confident that the complaint holds no merit.

The allegation began trending Thursday after Insider reported that Musk’s aerospace firm, SpaceX, “paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle a sexual misconduct claim against Musk in 2018.”

“The attendant worked as a member of the cabin crew on a contract basis for SpaceX’s corporate jet fleet. She accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her, rubbing her leg without consent, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage,” Insider reported.

“The incident, which took place in 2016, is alleged in a declaration signed by a friend of the attendant and prepared in support of her claim. The details in this story are drawn from the declaration as well as other documents, including email correspondence and other records shared with Insider by the friend.”

In an email to Insider, Musk said there’s “a lot more to this story” and called the outlet’s write-up a “politically motivated hit piece.”

“If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light,” he reportedly wrote.

He also echoed this rhetoric on Twitter:

He, much like former President Donald Trump, went from being a renowned figure among the establishment press to a hated one overnight by choosing to purchase Twitter so that he could restore free speech to the platform.

He became even more reviled when he announced his new party affiliation as a Republican earlier this week.

Incidentally, the announcement was made exactly a day before Insider published its “politically motivated hit piece” on him.

Coincidence?

To be fair, Musk’s pushback doesn’t explain the sexual harassment allegation. However, standard legal practice might.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, has argued that the de minimis doctrine applies to Musk’s case.

This doctrine refers to “something that is very trifling or of little importance,” specifically “something so small, whether in dollar terms, importance, or severity, that the law will not consider it,” according to the Legal Information Institute.

Shapiro essentially believes Musk settled the sexual harassment accusation for a paltry $250,000, which is a pittance compared to the money SpaceX has collected, to avoid having to waste time fighting it.

“In other words, when you sue one of the most valuable people on earth and get a settlement of $250,000, that’s nearly always just the guy getting rid of something he considers a nuisance, not an admission of guilt,” the conservative commentator tweeted Friday.

He’s not the only one who’s made this point.

The fact that Musk has never faced any other similar accusation suggests Shapiro is right. So does the media’s sudden decision to make a fuss out of the 2018 case after years of apparently ignoring it.

All this may explain why the billionaire entrepreneur seems to be taking the media’s latest round of attacks on him so lightly.

Note, for instance, the following giddy tweet he posted Thursday:

It seems that if Musk were truly guilty, his current mindset would be one of anger and fear, not giddiness and partial indifference.

His supporters for their part claim to “see through” the media’s game:

Vivek Saxena
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