Diver sues Elon Musk over ‘pedo’ tweets
A British diver who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand is suing Elon Musk, alleging that the Tesla Inc. chief executive falsely accused him of being a pedophile.
Vernon Unsworth, a diver who lives north of London, contends that Musk made the false allegation on Twitter and then repeated multiple other falsehoods after the dramatic rescue of a dozen youth soccer players and their coach in July.
The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Los Angeles seeks more than $75,000 in damages and a court order stopping Musk from making further allegations. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Musk called Unsworth a “pedo” in a tweet to his 22.5 million followers after Unsworth criticized Musk in a July 13 television interview with CNN about the rescue.
Musk and engineers from his rocket company, SpaceX, built a small submarine and shipped it to Thailand to help with the rescue.
The device wasn’t used, and in the interview, Unsworth called it a “PR stunt” and said it wouldn’t have worked to free the boys who were trapped in the flooded cave.
The lawsuit alleges that Musk, apparently angered by Unsworth’s remarks, began a campaign to destroy his reputation.
In a series of tweets July 15, Musk wrote that he never saw Unsworth and challenged him to show a video of the final rescue. “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,” Musk tweeted. Later on Twitter, Musk wrote, “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true.”
Musk later deleted the tweets and apologized, the lawsuit alleged; he stated in a tweet that his words were “spoken in anger” and that the sub was built out of kindness according to specifications from the dive team leader.
But on Aug. 28, Musk tweeted about Unsworth again, writing: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services.” The lawsuit states that with the tweet, Musk sought to tell the average reader that Unsworth’s choice not to sue at the time was evidence of Unsworth being a pedophile.
Two days after the Aug. 28 tweet, Musk emailed a BuzzFeed News reporter, suggesting that the reporter investigate Unsworth and “stop defending child rapists,” the lawsuit said.
“Mr. Unsworth is not a pedophile. Mr. Unsworth has never engaged in an act of pedophilia. Mr. Unsworth is not a child rapist,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit explains Unsworth’s role in the rescue, saying that on June 23, when the soccer players became trapped, several Thai officials asked him to go to the cave. He was the first foreign rescuer to arrive.
He recommended that the Thai government seek help from divers in the United Kingdom, and Unsworth called his friend and fellow diver Rob Harper, who brought two other divers, John Volanthen and Rick Stanton.
The boys, ages 11 to 16, were found July 2 by Volanthen and Stanton, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by lawyers led by L. Lin Wood.
The documents said a separate lawsuit would be filed in England.