Elon Musk: I'm Not Sure What *You* Think 'Pedo' Means, But…
Man, it never ends. Removed from the many, many issues at play both inside and outside Tesla’s Palo Alto HQ, a lawsuit sparked by a childish spat between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and a British cave diver still hangs over Musk’s head.
If you don’t recall the ridiculous episode, Vernon Unsworth, who was instrumental in organizing the successful rescue of a Thai soccer team last summer, told Musk to shove his experimental, homemade submarine up his ass. Musk responded by referring to him as “pedo guy”on Twitter.
On Monday, Musk sought to have the defamation suit tossed out on the grounds that “pedo” could mean a lot of things. This is 2019, people, and it’s Silicon Valley.
In a court filing detailed by the Los Angeles Times, Musk claimed,“By referring to Mr. Unsworth as ‘pedo guy,’ I did not intend to convey any facts or imply that Mr. Unsworth had engaged in acts of pedophilia,”
Interesting argument. Let’s see where this goes.
“Pedo guy was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up. It is synonymous with ‘creepy old man’ and is used to insult a person’s appearance and demeanor, not accuse a person of pedophilia,” he continued.
That could very well be a common term in South Africa, though is this writer the only person thinking the term and the later description imply the exact same thing? We’ll leave it to the courts to decide.
During the cave drama, rescuers turned down Musk’s offer of using his hastily-made sub to extract the trapped children. Musk was proud of that sub, which looked nothing like the Los Angeles-class attack submarine seen above, regardless of its perceived inability to navigate the twisting tunnel inside that Thai cave.
In the filing, Musk revealed he spent 50 grand having Unsworth investigated. Again, this is Silicon Valley. Jack Dorsey probably hires a shaman to cleanse his yoga mat each morning, so this trial, while seemingly the easiest thing in the world for a CEO to avoid, could almost fall under the banner of “inevitable.”
Musk has tried once before to have the suit dismissed. A federal judge shot down the request back in April.
Who makes your car?
[Images: Tesla, United States Navy]
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I've worked with someone like Elon. Bright, full of himself and often his own worst enemy. He was the dumbest smart person I've ever met. Twitter amplifies people's lack of self control and judgement. Not that Musk would take any advice, but the best thing he could do is to delete all social media apps and never use them again.
Your description also applies to President Trump.