It seems like an ambiguous episode that was handled appropriately.
Ever since he announced plans to purchase Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become the main character of the current political moment. His increasingly rightward shift—he declared earlier this week that he would be voting Republican for the first time in his life—has won him tremendous loyalty from conservative media and politicians, as well as predictable backlash from Team Blue. The two political tribes need clearly defined heroes and villains, and with former President Donald Trump out of the picture (at least for now), Musk was a clear candidate to fill that role. So, now we have right-wing media personality Benny Johnson applauding « based » and « Red Pilled » Musk, while liberal voices in the mainstream lament his turn toward « supervillain » status and Twitter’s progressive content moderators shed tears at the idea of him taking over. Given this reality, it does feel somewhat inevitable that Musk would receive new scrutiny by mainstream media figures, with special attention paid to his younger years—Was he a racist in high school? The answer, unequivocally, is no—and any embarrassing sexual scenarios. On Thursday, Business Insider reported that Musk had propositioned a flight attendant for sex in 2016 and paid her $250,000 to keep the incident quiet after she threatened him with a lawsuit. Musk has denied the underlying allegation. Predictably, conservatives are rallying to his defense, largely by disputing the suspicious timing of the allegation: Various Fox News personalities are asserting (not wrongly) that liberals are desperate to dig up dirt on Musk. Meanwhile, left-leaning political figures and media personalities are describing the allegations as « credible », though they were never litigated in court. The only thing less surprising than Elon Musk declaring he’s a Republican is knowing that he made that declaration as a way to fight credible allegations of sexual predation.https://t.co/vKoZK4o6TV
The Mary Sue (@TheMarySue) May 20, 2022
The victim has not come forward publicly; Business Insider’s story is based on information provided by the victim’s friend, which included a declaration signed by the friend in support of the victim’s claims.
