Elon Musk made light of the sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him, joking that the affair should be dubbed ‘Elongate’ before soliciting the co-founder of YouTube to touch his ‘wiener’.
Musk has denied the claims in a Business Insider article, which alleged that he exposed himself to a private flight attendant during a massage, rubbed her leg, and offered to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.
Chad Hurley, who co-founded YouTube and once served as the company’s CEO, joked about the claims in a tweet directed at Musk, telling him: ‘Stop horsing around and close this Twitter deal. We all want a happy ending!’
Musk, who knows Hurley well from their time working together in the early days of PayPal, responded in kind, writing: ‘Fine, if you touch my wiener, you can have a horse.’
It came on a day of whirlwind tweeting from Musk, who called a 2016 tweet from Hillary Clinton a hoax, questioned the integrity of Business Insider, and announced plans for a new ‘hardcore litigation department’ at Tesla.
Elon Musk traded jokes with his old friend Chad Hurley (right) about the allegations against him, offering to buy Hurley a horse of he touches his ‘wiener’
He also made light of the misconduct accusation by quoting a tweet of his own from 2021 in which he said if there was ever a scandal about him, it should be called ‘Elongate.’
‘Finally, we get to use Elongate as scandal name. It’s kinda perfect,’ he tweeted
Musk, who was in Brazil on Friday to meet with President Jair Bolsonaro, has offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, but said the deal can’t go forward until the company provides information about how many accounts on the platform are spam or bots.
Several hours before the Business Insider report was published on Thursday, Musk tweeted that he had previously voted for Democrats but would now vote for Republicans and suggested that the left would launch a ‘dirty tricks campaign’ against him.
He stepped up his political remarks on Friday in a series of tweets, calling an old tweet of Hillary Cinton’s a ‘hoax’ after a Twitter user flagged it as misleading.
The 2016 Clinton tweet, referencing claims that were later included in the Steele dossier, read: ‘Computer scientists have apparently uncovered a covert server linking the Trump Organization to a Russian-based bank.’
When a Twitter user said that he had flagged the tweet as misinformation but was ignored by the company, Musk responded: ‘You are absolutely correct. That tweet is a Clinton campaign hoax for which their campaign lawyer is undergoing a criminal trial.’
The claim that a server at Trump Tower was clandestinely communicating with Alfa Bank in Russia was later discredited.
The ‘covert server’ allegation is also now at the center of the trial of former Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussman, who is charged with lying to the FBI about his affiliation with the campaign when he told them about the alleged server.
Musk referenced the saga in several tweets on Friday, including one responding to Republican Rep. Jim Jordan.
‘Bet most people still don’t know that a Clinton campaign lawyer, using campaign funds, created an elaborate hoax about Trump and Russia. Makes you wonder what else is fake,’ wrote Musk.
Sussman is accused of lying to the FBI about the fact that he was representing Clinton’s 2016 campaign interests when he told them about an alleged ‘covert server’ in Trump Tower
In another, the billionaire wrote simply, ‘Sus man’, in a reference both to Sussman and the slang term that means ‘suspicious.’
On Friday, Musk also launched a search for ‘hardcore streetfighters’ to join a legal team he was building, to combat the allegations against him.
‘ Tesla is building a hardcore litigation department where we directly initiate & execute lawsuits,’ he tweeted.
‘The team will report directly to me. Please send 3 to 5 bullet points describing evidence of exceptional ability.’
He added: ‘There will be blood.’
Thursday’s report by Business Insider claimed that Musk was accused of misconduct by a flight attendant contracted by SpaceX who worked on his private jet in 2016.
Elon Musk is seen on Friday in Sao Paulo, meeting Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro. The meeting was held to discuss improving internet connectivity in remote Amazon communities and to plan how to track deforestation. It is being seen as a coup for Bolsonaro, ahead of October’s election
Bolsonaro is pictured greeting the South African-born billionaire ahead of their meeting at a hotel in the countryside outside of Sao Paulo
The report said SpaceX paid the woman $250,000 in severance in 2018 in exchange for her agreeing not to file a lawsuit over her claim.
The Business Insider report was based on an account by the flight attendant´s friend, who said the flight attendant told her about the incident shortly after it happened.
The report also said the flight attendant was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits her from discussing the payment or anything else about Musk and SpaceX.
SpaceX didn’t respond to emails seeking comment Friday. Musk founded the privately owned aerospace company in 2002 and serves as its CEO.
Musk, who is in the process of buying Twitter, used the social media platform to respond to the allegation.
‘And, for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,’ he wrote in response to one user who tweeted in support of him.
