Elon Musk tweets ‘scandal name’ after report on sexual harassment claim, says 'kinda perfect'

Hours after a report claiming SpaceX paid an employee $250,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against company's founder Elon Musk, the billionaire said that the attacks against him "should be viewed through a political lens". Without directly referring to the Insider report, the Tesla CEO asserted that nothing will deter him "from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech".

"The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech,” Musk tweeted.

According to the Insider report, the rocket launch company made the payment in 2018 to an unidentified flight attendant who worked as a contract employee on a SpaceX corporate jet. The attendant had reportedly alleged that the billionaire investor exposed himself and propositioned her in a private room on the plane during a flight. He offered to buy the attendant a horse in exchange for an erotic massage, the report claimed, citing interviews and documents that included a declaration signed by a friend of the attendant made in support of her claim.

Responding to a follower, Musk tweeted: “For the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue.”

"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 wrote on the micro-blogging platform.

He also quote-tweeted his own tweet from last year where he had suggested calling it ‘Elongate’ if there's ever a scandal about him.

“Finally, we get to use Elongate as scandal name. It's kinda perfect,” he wrote.

Musk’s suggestion to see the allegations from a “political lens” was made in an apparent reference to his changed voting preference. Earlier this week, the world’s richest man said that he voted for Democrats in the past but he will now vote for Republicans.

"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican," he tweeted.

"Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold," said Musk, who has agreed to buy Twitter Inc.