SpaceX fired a number of employees who wrote and distributed open letters publicly criticizing Elon Musk's moves. The letter explicitly states that Musk's behavior is hurting the company's reputation.
The letter cites Musk's behavior as a source of distraction and embarrassment to the company. The SpaceX employee who wrote the letter also referred to the company's 'No A**hole' policy to address and condemn Musk's behavior on Twitter.
"As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX - every tweet Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company," the letter read.
"It's important to make it clear to our team and to our potential talent that the message does not reflect our work, our mission or our values."
The authors of the letter were removed from their positions just a day after the letter went viral on SpaceX's internal Microsoft Teams channel. The layoffs came to light from internal company sources and an email sent by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.
In his email, Shotwell said SpaceX had laid off a number of employees involved in writing the letter.
"These letters, solicitations and processes in general make employees feel uncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry that they are forcing them to sign something that does not reflect their views," Shotwell said.
"We have too much important work to do and this form of excessive activism is unnecessary."
Musk has long been a controversial figure, but since his plan to buy Twitter for $44 billion, the behavior of the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla has received more and more attention.
Not to mention that Musk had stumbled upon a sexual harassment case involving a flight attendant who worked for SpaceX. The richest man in the world called the accusations politically charged.