Elon Musk returns to court in L.A. to give more testimony in defamation case

‘He insulted me so I insulted him back’: Elon Musk returns to the stand in defamation case against diver he called a ‘pedo guy’ and says he retaliated after the Brit made fun of his plan to save Thai soccer boys

  • Musk returned to court in L.A. to face off against Vernon Unsworth 
  • Unsworth is suing him for defamation for calling him a ‘pedo guy’ on Twitter
  • Musk said on Tuesday that he didn’t necessary mean to suggest he was a pedophile and that it was ‘a fight between men’ 
  • Unsworth claims he suffered damages as a result of the tweet  

Elon Musk returned to court in L.A. on Wednesday for the second day of his defamation trial with British diver Vernon Unsworth who he called a ‘pedo guy’ on Twitter. 

The Tesla billionaire took the stand again as part of their lawsuit in US District Court and said he acted out of retaliation after Unsworth mocked him for trying to help rescue 12 Thai boys from a cave they were trapped in last summer. 

‘He insulted me so I insulted him back,’ he said.  

Musk made his ‘pedo guy’ comment on Twitter after Unsworth, 63, criticized the tycoon’s offer of the use of a miniature submarine he’d invented to help in the rescue. 

And in court Musk – wearing a dark suit and tie – told the jury of three men and five women: ‘I would like to make it clear that I was not calling Mr. Unsworth a pedophile… pedo guy is just a flippant, off-the-cuff insult that just means creepy old man.’ 

Elon Musk arrives in court for the second day of his defamation trial against a British diver who he called a ‘pedo guy’ on Twitter 

Divers didn’t use Musk’s submarine in saving the boys’ lives and Unsworth told CNN that the outspoken tycoon’s offer was just a ‘publicity stunt’ and Musk should ‘stick his submarine where it hurts.’ 

But Musk insisted in court that the leader of the rescue, Rick Stanton, took his design of a cigar-shaped mini submarine – big enough to hold one boy – very seriously and encouraged him to finish building it in case it could be used to help save the youngsters. 

So he was upset by Unsworth’s criticism of the sub – which he named the Wild Boar after the boys’ soccer team – and his lawyers showed a video in court of the vessel being tested in a swimming pool.

He denigrated the efforts of my team (who built the sub) in a way that was totally inappropriate. 

Musk told U.S. Federal Court in downtown LA. ‘A lot of people worked day and night to be helpful – they left their families to help. 

‘He (Unsworth) said it wouldn’t work and he also said we were thrown out of the cave, which was a lie. He was extremely rude and contentious.’ 

While Musk, 48, conceded that his angry ‘pedo guy’ tweet was ‘regrettable’, he also said he deleted the tweet within hours of posting it and later apologized on Twitter, in a deposition and again during his court testimony Tuesday. 

Musk took the stand for six hours on Tuesday

Musk took the stand for six hours on Tuesday

Musk took the stand for six hours on Tuesday. He was expected to testify again on Wednesday

British diver Vernon Unsworth arrives in court in L.A. on Wednesday for the second day of their trial

British diver Vernon Unsworth arrives in court in L.A. on Wednesday for the second day of their trial 

A court sketch shows the billionaire Tesla founder being cross-examined Tuesday by an attorney for British diver Vernon Unsworth, who sued him after Musk called him a ‘pedo guy’ on Twitter

A court sketch shows the billionaire Tesla founder being cross-examined Tuesday by an attorney for British diver Vernon Unsworth, who sued him after Musk called him a ‘pedo guy’ on Twitter

When Unsworth’s lawyer Lin Wood questioned how Unsworth could have seen the tweeted apology when he doesn’t have a Twitter account, Musk said: ‘Most of what I say on Twitter generally gets reported elsewhere.’ 

Among those on Musk’s witness list are the British diver’s first wife, Vanessa – who Musk and his lawyers claim he abandoned to go to Thailand – and his current wife, the Thai women he was falsely accused of marrying when she was a child. 

Unsworth’s lawyers have called the Tesla billionaire ‘thin-skinned’ and a ‘bully’. 

He is seeking unspecified damages that are to be determined by a jury. 

The judge, Stephen V Wilson, told the jury the case would last approximately one week

On Tuesday, Musk said he did not know that Unsworth was deeply involved in the cave rescue of 12 Thai boys when he insulted him on Twitter.

‘I just thought he was some random creepy guy the media were interviewing,’ Musk said. ‘I thought at the time he was unrelated to the rescue.’   

‘It’s just what I said,’ Musk told the court, referring to his tweet. ‘He said he was going to sue me. He hadn’t filed… it was odd.’ 

TIMELINE OF THE THAI RESCUE AND MUSK AND UNSWORTH’S DISPUTE 

June 23 2018: The boys and their soccer coach become trapped in the caves

July 8: Musk tweets that he is using Tesla engineers to build a ‘kid size’ submarine to try to get them out

The Thai soccer team got lost in caves while exploring and became stuck for days. Musk offered to help and sent a team of Tesla engineers to build a submarine to get them out

The Thai soccer team got lost in caves while exploring and became stuck for days. Musk offered to help and sent a team of Tesla engineers to build a submarine to get them out 

July 8 – 10: The boys were rescued gradually in a complex mission involving hundreds of people 

July 13: Vernon Unsworth gives a CNN interview where he is asked about Musk’s plan. He calls it a ‘PR stunt’ and says: ‘He can stick it where it hurts’ in reference to the submarine 

July 15: Musk tweets calling him a ‘pedo guy’ 

 

July 17: Musk apologizes

August 15: Musk hires private investigator James Howard after he got in touch with him saying, in an email:  ‘Dear Elon, you may wish to dig deep and look into Mr. Unsworth’s past… no smoke without fire!’

They set about launching their ‘investigation’ but go to great lengths to keep Musk separate from it. In emails, Musk’s associate Jared Birchall carried out their dealings and Musk was referred to as ‘the principle’. He and Birchall never discussed it in writing.

August 28: Musk tweets in response to a follower who accused him of lying about Unsworth: ‘You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me yet?

August 30: BuzzFeed reporter emails Musk for a comment. He replies saying, among other things, that Unsworth married a ‘child bride’ and inferring that he is a rapist

September 4: BuzzFeed publishes the story 

September 5: Private Investigator emails Birchall, Musk’s associate, saying: ‘At no time have have I reported that the target is a child rapist.’

September 17: Unsworth files a lawsuit against Musk