Elon Musk Lashes Out At Thai Cave Rescuer, Baselessly Calls Him A 'Pedo Guy'

over 5 years in Huffpost

Elon Musk went on a bizarre rant against a British diver involved in last week's Thai cave rescue after the diver mocked the billionaire tech entrepreneur's proposed plan to help with the mission.
Vern Unsworth told CNN on Saturday that Musk's idea to use a kid-sized submarine to transport the 12 boys out of the cave where they were trapped was "just a PR stunt."
"He can stick his submarine where it hurts," said Unsworth, who had a "pivotal" role in the rescue by helping authorities pinpoint the boys' location, according to CNN. "It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like."
The 47-year-old Tesla and SpaceX CEO didn't take the criticism too kindly, lashing out at Unsworth in a series of now-deleted tweets Sunday in which he baselessly accused the diver of being a pedophile.
"Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves," Musk tweeted, later adding: "Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it."

Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves. Only people in sight were the Thai navy/army guys, who were great. Thai navy seals escorted us in — total opposite of wanting us to leave.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018

Water level was actually very low & still (not flowing) — you could literally have swum to Cave 5 with no gear, which is obv how the kids got in. If not true, then I challenge this dude to show final rescue video. Huge credit to pump & generator team. Unsung heroes here.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018

You know what, don't bother showing the video. We will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo. Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018

Musk later doubled down on his unfounded accusation against Unsworth.

Bet ya a signed dollar it's true
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018

Twitter users swiftly condemned Musk's allegation, calling the remarks "outrageous" and "unhinged."

This comment is absolutely unacceptable. You owe #ThaiCaveRescue diver Vernon Unsworth a serious apology. @Channel4News
— Jonathan Miller (@millerC4) July 15, 2018

Your "pedo" slur is outrageous. I just i/v'd Unsworth for @STForeign. Man of integrity, was there from day 1, knows caves better than anyone
— Philip Sherwell (@philipsherwell) July 15, 2018

Elon Musk seems to be coming a bit unhinged here, calling one of the British cave divers a paedophile because he lives in Thailand https://t.co/ZKS8oZQJIt
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) July 15, 2018

Hours later, Musk deleted his tweets about Unsworth without an explanation.
Representatives for both Tesla and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment. HuffPost was unable to reach Unsworth for comment.
Thai officials rejected Musk's submarine, ultimately adopting a complicated course of action involving underwater stretchers and water pumps to successfully rescue all 12 of the boys and their soccer coach.
"I assure you that the equipment [Musk] brought to help us is not practical for our mission," Narongsak Osottanakorn, head of the Thai search operation, told The New York Times last week. "Even though the equipment has state of the art technology, it does not fit our mission in the cave."
This article has been updated to note that Musk has deleted his tweets about Unsworth.

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