San Francisco, Jul 25 (IANS): Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Monday hit out at the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for linking him with Google Co-founder Sergey Brin's wife Nicole Shanahan, asking his more than 102 million social media followers to slam the publication for going ahead with a false story.
A Wall Street Journal report claimed on Sunday that "Musk engaged in a brief affair last fall with the wife of Sergey Brin, prompting the Google Co-founder to file for divorce earlier this year and ending the tech billionaires' long friendship".
Musk told his followers to "call them out on it".
"WSJ is supposed to have a high standard for journalism and, right now, they are way sub-tabloid. WSJ should be running stories that actually matter to their readers and have a solid factual basis, not third-party random hearsay," Musk tweeted.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that character assassination attacks have reached a new level this year, but "the articles are all nothing-burgers".
"I work crazy hours, so there just isn't much time for shenanigans. None of the key people involved in these alleged wrongdoings were even interviewed," he posted on another report about Amber Heard's threesome with Musk and Cara Delevingne at actor Johnny Depp's house in 2016, which he has denied.
According to the WSF report, the Musk-Shanahan affair allegedly occurred at the 'Art Basel' event in Miami following the Tesla CEO's split with then girlfriend Claire Boucher, famously known as Grimes.
Brin and Shanahan were separated but still living together at the time.
The couple's relationship was reportedly strained due to issues related to the Covid lockdowns and their three-year-old daughter.
Brin and Musk had been close friends but after the alleged affair, their relationship soured, the report claimed.
Brin has also reportedly told advisors to sell his personal investments in Musk's companies.
In an earlier tweet on Monday, Musk said: "This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!"
"I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic," the Tesla CEO added.