Elon Musk is going on trial for his troublesome tweets in a defamation case pitting the billionaire against a British diver he allegedly branded a pedophile.
Los Angeles — Elon Musk is going on trial Tuesday for his troublesome tweets in a defamation case pitting the billionaire against a British diver he allegedly branded a pedophile.
The Tesla CEO will be called to testify early in the case in Los Angeles federal court to explain what he meant when he called Vernon Unsworth, who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped underwater in a Thailand cave, “pedo guy” in a Twitter spat more than year ago. Musk later apologised for lashing out at Unsworth on Twitter after the diver belittled Musk’s efforts to build a tiny submarine to save the trapped boys as a “PR stunt.” The tweet, widely interpreted as a reference to a pedophile, was removed by Musk, who disputed that’s what he meant.
“‘Pedo guy’ was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up,” Musk said in a court declaration. “It is synonymous with ‘creepy old man’ and is used to insult a person’s appearance and demeanour.” Unsworth’s lawyers have laughed off that explanation and said his claim was undercut by a subsequent tweet when he said, “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true” in response to a question about whether he had accused Unsworth of being a pedophile.
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