Tesla CEO Elon Musk is desperately trying to explain his bizarre "pedo guy" tweets in court.
Musk is being sued for defamation after in 2018 publicly attacking Vernon Unsworth, a diver who helped rescue soccer players trapped in a Thailand cave, by calling him a "pedo guy" on Twitter and later a "child rapist" among other repeated insults. Musk had lashed out after Unsworth dismissed his plan to rescue the players using a mini submarine as a "stunt."
Musk's lawyers have previously argued his insults were simply opinions and not accusations, and Musk made that case in a new court filing Monday. In it, the Tesla CEO says he simply meant to convey his personal "opinion" that Unsworth "appeared to be a weird guy" and that when he called him a "pedo guy," he didn't mean to suggest that he "had engaged in acts of pedophilia." Musk claims, after all, that "pedo guy" was just a "common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up" and meant to "insult a person's appearance and demeanor."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Despite this, Musk then describes how he learned through a private investigator "disturbing information" about Unsworth, including that he allegedly began a relationship with his wife when she was "around twelve years old." It was after hearing this that Musk would accuse Unsworth of being a "child rapist" in an email to BuzzFeed News he says he thought was off the record. In other words, Musk seems to be saying, the insult wasn't serious, until it was.
Musk's defamation trial is set for October.
-
The Icelandic women’s strike 50 years onIn The Spotlight The nation is ‘still no paradise’ for women, say campaigners
-
Mall World: why are people dreaming about a shopping centre?Under The Radar Thousands of strangers are dreaming about the same thing and no one sure why
-
Why scientists are attempting nuclear fusionThe Explainer Harnessing the reaction that powers the stars could offer a potentially unlimited source of carbon-free energy, and the race is hotting up
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
