Elon Musk tripled down on his “pedo” claims against Vermon Unsworth, calling the diver involved in a Thai cave rescue a “child rapist” last week in an email to Buzzfeed.
Tension between the two men was sparked when Unsworth questioned the Tesla CEO’s contribution to the perilous mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped for more than two weeks deep inside a flood Thai cave in July.
Unsworth, a British diver and cave diver, was instrumental in the rescue but criticized Musk for proposing they use of a mini-submarine to navigate through the cave’s narrow passageway.
Musk hit back, calling the diver a “pedo guy” in a tweet which was quickly deleted and followed up with an apology, RT reported.
“My words were spoken in anger after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader,” Musk said in a Twitter post.
Unsworth legally threatened Musk and the billionaire responded by reconfirming his initial remarks about the Brit.
In his email to Buzzfeed, Musk said the public should stop “defending child rapists” and called Unsworth "an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time.”
He added that he hoped Unsworth sued him.
Unsworth’s attorney, L. Lin Wood, called Musk’s accusations “vindictive and vicious” lies, according to RT.
“After deleting the initial accusation and tweeting an apology, Mr Musk has continued to republish his false and unsupportable accusation. His conduct demonstrates that his recklessness is intentional and designed to harm Mr. Unsworth,” Wood said.
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