“Elongate” dropped early Thursday night, with a report that his SpaceX company paid a flight attendant $250,000 to buy her silence over an incident where Musk allegedly exposed himself and offered her a horse if she would “do more.”

Billionaire playboy and aspiring new Twitter owner Elon Musk seemed to be foreshadowing that some dirt was in the pipeline about to come down on him when he tweeted just two days ago (seen below) that he could “no longer support” Democrats, and “Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold.” And it may have been a sign, in the pre-hostile-takeover era back in early April when he was just buying large amounts of Twitter stock, that he backed off from joining Twitter’s board of directors when they said something about a background check.

People, the shoe has dropped. At about 5 p.m. PT Thursday afternoon, Business Insider blew up the internet with their report of sexual misconduct allegations against Elon Musk, reporting that that his company SpaceX paid a flight attendant  $250,000 to buy the woman’s silence over the incident.

The alleged incident took place in 2016. “The attendant worked as a member of the cabin crew on a contract basis for SpaceX's corporate jet fleet,” Business Insider reports. “She accused Musk of exposing his erect penis to her, rubbing her leg without consent, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage.”

Business Insider spoke to a friend of the woman — the woman herself and her attorney declined to comment. But the publication also obtained a “declaration signed by a friend of the attendant and prepared in support of her claim,” as well as “other documents, including email correspondence and other records shared with Insider by the friend.”

According to those legal correspondences, the woman alleged that Musk asked "for a full body massage," and that when she arrived, Musk "was completely naked except for a sheet covering the lower half of his body." The woman, who is a flight attendant and not a massage therapist, says Musk "exposed his genitals" and also "touched her and offered to buy her a horse if she would 'do more,' referring to the performance of sex acts."

The friend spoke with Business Insider, and did not give her name. "He whipped out his penis, it was erect," she told the publication. "And he started propositioning her, like he touched her thigh and told her he would buy her a horse. And he basically tried to bribe her to perform some sort of sexual favor."

When reached by Business Insider, Musk denied the allegation on the record, saying there’s "a lot more to this story." (Oh, I’ll bet there’s a lot more to this story!)

"If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light," he told the publication, and said the article was a "politically motivated hit piece."

Musk has also been tweeting and responding like mad about the allegations. "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 Thursday night.

Business Insider notes that “SpaceX places a special emphasis on massages” (yeah that’s not weird), and that “According to the friend, the flight attendant was encouraged by her superiors to purchase her own professional massage training for her sessions with Musk.”

So… this cash-rich company wouldn't even pay for it? Draw your own conclusions about whether SpaceX has a culture of just dudes looking for handjobs.

But the interesting thing here, especially in light of Musk fashioning himself as some “free speech” warrior, is that there are allegedly documents showing he tried to silence someone. And it gets pretty intriguing when you consider that since the alleged settlement, the state of California which is home to SpaceX headquarters no longer permits the requirement of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). As Business Insider explains,  “Just months after [the alleged victim’s] settlement in 2018, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the 'Stand Against Non-Disclosure Act,' which bars the use of NDAs going forward in settlements involving sexual harassment, discrimination, or assault unless they are requested by the plaintiff.”

We should confess that we stole the “Elongate” joke at the top of this post from Elon Musk himself. Considering that it is now a dick joke too, it’s an even more ironic wisecrack. But one can’t help but wonder what this means for the whole seemingly much shakier Twitter takeover attempt, and combine that with the staggering amount of wealth that Musk has lost since he started this whole Twitter escapade.

This development is just the latest dark horse to complicate the situation.  

Related: Surprise! Elon Musk Now Getting Wobbly On Buying Twitter, Claims Deal Is 'Temporarily On Hold’ [SFist]

Image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 02: Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 2, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Gotham/Getty Images)