Elon Musk argues his 'pedo guy' insult wasn't literal because 'if you add guy to something, it's less serious'


Tesla CEO Elon Musk argued in his defamation trial Wednesday that when he called a British diver "pedo guy," this was clearly a flippant remark and that using the word "guy" made it "less significant than pedo."
Musk is being sued for defamation by Vernon Unsworth, a diver who helped rescue soccer players trapped in a Thailand cave and who Musk publicly called a "pedo guy" on Twitter last year. The Tesla CEO has been arguing that when he called Unsworth a "pedo guy," he was not legitimately accusing him of being a pedophile, claiming this was simply a common insult used in South Africa, where he grew up, to call someone creepy.
Musk continued to make that argument on the second day of his trial Wednesday, arguing that his use of the word "guy" further shows that it was not a literal accusation.
Subscribe to 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.
"Pedo guy is more flippant than pedo, especially in the context I used in the tweet," Musk said Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports. "It's obviously an insult, no one interpreted it as meaning he was actually a pedophile."
Musk did, however, also call Unsworth a "child rapist" in an email exchange with BuzzFeed News, during which he also invited Unsworth to sue him. "I f---ing hope he sues me," Musk wrote to BuzzFeed. That quote that was read in court on Tuesday, CNN reports, to which Musk responded, "Yeah, I guess be careful what you wish for."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
How will the new tax deductions on auto loans work?
the explainer Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act introduced a tax deduction on auto loan interest — but eligibility for the tax break is limited
-
Is Trump actually going to prosecute Obama for 'treason'?
Today's Big Question Or is this just a distraction from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal?
-
5 best movie sequels of all time
The Week Recommends The second time is only sometimes as good as the first
-
Nvidia hits $4 trillion milestone
Speed Read The success of the chipmaker has been buoyed by demand for artificial intelligence
-
X CEO Yaccarino quits after two years
Speed Read Elon Musk hired Linda Yaccarino to run X in 2023
-
Musk chatbot Grok praises Hitler on X
Speed Read Grok made antisemitic comments and referred to itself as 'MechaHitler'
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellites
Speed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodes
Speed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
-
Apple pledges $500B in US spending over 4 years
Speed Read This is a win for Trump, who has pushed to move manufacturing back to the US
-
Microsoft unveils quantum computing breakthrough
Speed Read Researchers say this advance could lead to faster and more powerful computers