Ilona Mask is tried for 'pedophile': what threatens him

Founder of Tesla, American inventor Ilon Musk 3 December spoke in court in Los Angeles. He is being tried for what he called the pedophile of British diver Vernon Unsworth. Writes about this with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

Unsworth took part in saving children in Thailand in 2018. Then in the cave complex Tham Luang stuck 12 local students and their football coach. They had to spend two weeks there, after which they were evacuated by a team of military scuba divers, in which Unsworth was also.

Musk called Unsworth a pedophile (“pedo guy”) during a spat on Twitter. The tweet was later deleted and Musk apologized, but that wasn't enough for Unsworth. He sued him for libel and demanded exemplary punishment and compensation of at least $75.

Elon Musk in court said he insulted Unsworth, defending himself from the attacks of a diver.

Musk said Vernon Unsworth's comments were "wrong and offensive." “So I answered insult with insult,” Elon Musk said, adding that his words were an unjustified attack on “a well-intentioned attempt to help children.”

The head of Tesla also emphasized that his words cannot be taken literally, just as he does not think the words spoken by Unsworth during the altercation should be taken literally. “I believe he didn’t ask me to have sex with a submarine... Nor did I literally mean that he was a pedophile,” Musk said.

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Elon Musk noted that in South Africa, where he grew up, words he said about Unsworth are often used during quarrels and mean “nasty old man.”

The conflict occurred last year. Unsworth gave an interview in which he commented on Mask’s proposal to send a specially built mini-submarine, which was urgently built by engineers of his three companies, to help the stuck children. It turned out that this device was not useful to rescuers.

In an interview, Unsworth called this act a “PR stunt” and said that Musk could “stick it where it hurts.” They exchanged caustic tweets, in which Musk insulted the diver, calling him a pedophile.

Other Twitter users responded to the insult. They asked if he was sure of his accusation. The billionaire replied: “I’ll bet the dollar I signed that it is so.”

On the day this happened, Tesla shares fell 4%.

Musk was later forced to apologize. He wrote that the word “pedophile” was uttered in a fit of rage because Unsworth “had lied several times and suggested having sex with a submarine that was built with good intentions and according to the descriptions we received from the head of the diving team "

At the same time, Musk admitted: “His actions do not justify my actions.”

However, then he unexpectedly spoke out again. In an email exchange with correspondent Ryan Mack, he asked him to “stop defending those who abuse children.” Musk probably believed that he did not write these words for publication in the media, but did not agree with Mack about this before answering his questions.

Unsworth sued Mask only for a tweet, but Los Angeles County Judge Stephen Wilson said correspondence with the correspondent could be used in court to show what the defendant had in mind.

"I'm a fucking idiot"

As it turned out later, after his apology, Elon Musk’s representatives were approached by a certain person who introduced himself as a private detective named James Howard-Higgins. He reported that Unsworth did have “skeletons in his closet.” Journalists figured out in this story they found out that this person was a fraudster and provided Mask representatives with false information.

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The media quote court documents in which Elon Musk regrets the attack against Unsworth. In one of his letters to his PR man, he admits: “I’m a damn idiot.” The documents provided to the court by the plaintiff’s lawyers say that Musk’s representatives spent at least $52 on the “detective”, but did not even check who it was.

Dispute about terms

Musk's defense team said they are not trying to settle the case amicably, but will instead argue in court that "pedo guy" in this context is not a charge of pedophilia.

“In South Africa, where I grew up, it’s considered a common insult,” Musk said. - Like a 'creepy old man'. This expression is used to insult a person, his appearance and behavior, and not to accuse him of pedophilia.”

Unsworth's lawyers say this explanation is completely false. According to Unsworth's lawyer, Lucien "Lin" Wood, the crux of the case for the jury is to decide whether the word "pedo guy" was used by Musk as a statement of fact or not.

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