Even tech superstars sometimes get confused. Elon Musk unwittingly attended what some say was a sex party held last summer at a venture capitalist’s Silicon Valley home.
The now-infamous event in question was mentioned in a Vanity Fair excerpt from journalist Emily Chang’s upcoming book Brotopia about the lavish and intense culture of Silicon Valley. The June 2017 party allegedly featured open drug use and public sexual behavior, according to the excerpt.
After the party’s existence was first made public, Axios reported that its host was the former Draper Fisher Jurvetson investor Steve Jurvetson—who left his firm in November amid an investigation into his behavior with women. Then, entrepreneur Paul Biggar wrote a blog post confirming many of the details in Chang’s story and saying he had seen Musk at the party.
But while Biggar said he suspected the event might be a “sex party,” not everyone in attendance knew what they were in for. Musk, for one, believed the event was a “corporate” costume party, his spokesperson told Business Insider.
“Elon was at the party for a couple hours and left around 1am after talking with several DFJ-funded entrepreneurs about technology and building companies,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the website. “His impression was that it was a corporate party with a costume theme, not a ‘sex party’, and there was no indication that it would become one after he left.”
Biggar also said he did not see any sex or drugs at the event. However, in Chang’s account, she told the story of an anonymous “Jane Doe” who said she saw a large “cuddle puddle,” was offered drugs and then was invited to kiss a male founder. She said she initially participated in the encounter but then became uncomfortable.
“What’s not O.K. about this scene is that it is so money- and power-dominated,” she said in Chang’s excerpt. “It’s a problem because it’s an abuse of power. I would never do it again.”