Union blasts Musk after misconduct allegation: 'Flight attendants are not just another accessory'

Union blasts Musk after misconduct allegation: 'Flight attendants are not just another accessory'
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The head of the flight attendants union harshly criticized Elon Musk Friday following a report that the richest man in the world paid $250,000 to a SpaceX hostess who accused him of sexual misconduct.

The allegations and purported severance package were first reported Thursday by Insider.

Sara Nelson, president of the 50,000-member Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, weighed in after Musk took to Twitter, the social media platform he is trying to buy for $44 billion, to angrily dismiss the accusations from 2016 as "utterly untrue."

"Flight attendants are not just another accessory on Musk’s little rocket," Nelson said.

“Musk believes that money gives him the right to do anything that he pleases, regardless of the rights, humanity or protestations of others,” Nelson added.

The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating
The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating

Nelson said "Musk’s alleged actions in the cabin are a stark reminder of why Flight Attendants first organized 76 years ago."

"We are in the time of the worker, and we will not allow Elon Musk and his friends to continue treating workers as second-class or disposable characters in their play station," said Nelson.

Neither Musk or SpaceX responded to requests for comment.

NBC News has not independently confirmed the account or gained access to those documents.

"The fact that he required flight attendants to become licensed masseuses on their own dime demonstrates what we see all too often — the super rich think they own everything and have to pay for nothing," Nelson said. "This attitude is all too common to flight attendants and is something all workers have had to deal with from day one."

Several hours after Insider published its story Thurdsay, Musk suggested on Twitter that the allegations were tied to his plan to buy the social media platform and derided the flight attendant's friend as “a far left activist/actress in LA with a major political axe to grind.”

"But I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me “exposed” — describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened," Musk tweeted.