A judge in Los Angeles has ordered Tesla CEO Elon Musk to defend himself in court later this year after he accused a diver who helped save Thai schoolboys trapped in a cave of being a pedophile on Twitter last year.
British diver Vernon Unsworth filed the defamation suit after Musk referred to him as a "pedo" in a tweet sent July 15. The tweet came after Unsworth's CNN interview in which he called Musk's theories on how to help rescue the soccer team from the cave a "publicity stunt." Unsworth also criticized a "kid-sized submarine" built by Musk's team for the rescue mission.
Musk fired back on his Twitter account, explaining how the submarine would work, insulting Unsworth as a "pedo guy." In a follow-up tweet, Musk wrote: "bet ya a signed dollar it's true."
In an email exchange with BuzzFeed, Musk went even further, accusing Unsworth of being a "child rapist" and that the British diver had moved to Thailand "for a child bride who was about 12-years-old at the time."
The legal definition of defamation doesn't apply to people's opinions, or derogatory hyperbole - that is, you can call someone an a-hole all day. However, because Musk went further in his emails with BuzzFeed, the judge wrote that Musk had "purported to convey actual facts and even suggested hthat the BuzzFeed reporter call people in Thailand to confirm his narrative."
Unsworth is seeking $75,000 in damages from the billionaire and unspecified punitive damages. The suit also seeks a court order to prevent Musk from making any further disparaging comments.
The trial is scheduled for October 22.
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