Diver who helped with Thai cave rescue sues Elon Musk

A British diver who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand is suing Elon Musk, alleging that the Tesla CEO falsely accused him of being a pedophile.

Diver Vernon Unsworth, 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 seeks more than $75,000 in damages and a court order stopping Musk from making further allegations. Musk called Unsworth a “pedo” in a tweet to his 22.5 million followers after Unsworth criticized Musk in a television interview.

Musk and engineers from his rocket company, Space X, 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. He also said Musk “can stick his submarine somewhere where it hurts.”

In a series of tweets July 15, Musk, who personally delivered the submarine to the cave, wrote that he never saw Unsworth and challenged him to show a video of the rescue. “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it,” Musk tweeted.

But on Aug. 28, Musk tweeted about Unsworth once again, writing: “You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services.” The lawsuit states that Musk sought to tell the average reader that Unsworth’s failure to sue was evidence that Unsworth is a pedophile.