The Elon Musk ‘Pedo Guy’ Case Is Underway And The Transcripts Are Wild

Elon Musk has claimed he did not intend to accuse a British rescue diver and hero of the 2018 Thai cave rescue of being a paedophile, but instead merely meant to suggest he was a “creepy old man”.

The billionaire co-founder of Tesla is being sued for defamation by Vernon Unsworth and the pair came face-to-face in a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday.

Musk repeated the defence he first used in court papers lodged in September, insisting the phrase “pedo guy” was commonly used in his native South Africa and meant “creepy old guy”, rather than being an allegation of paedophilia.

An internet search or a survey of people on the street would prove his point, Musk added.

He also cited Unsworth’s response to his offer of help in the cave rescue, where he said “he can stick his submarine where it hurts”.

Musk said this too was clearly an insult, rather than a threat to “physically sodomise me with a submarine”.

Lin Wood, who is representing Unsworth, asked why Musk did not offer this defence earlier, PA Medias reports. 

“I think it would have been worse. It’s like if I called someone a mothereffer,” Musk said, adding it would seem “sarcastic” to say “I did not mean they committed incest”.