Sunday, 8 December 2019

Elon Musk on the Stand: ‘Pedo Guy’ Doesn't Mean ‘Pedophile’

quote [ Elon Musk, cofounder of Tesla and SpaceX, had tweeted the insult about Vernon Unsworth, the diver, in July 2018. Unsworth later sued for defamation. But in court on Tuesday, Musk advanced a defense he first made in a deposition in August: Pedo guy, he said, did not actually mean pedophile but the slightly less villainous creepy old man. ]

An explanation of what people are talking about when they mention "pedo" and "Musk" in the same sentence. Probably. Like... most of the time as of this moment. Maybe not other times. Use your best judgment.

Some useless and cheeky commentary:
Reveal
"In court Tuesday, Unsworth’s lawyers asked what’s so suspicious about a British man living in Thailand." This is a dangerous question to ask. Someone in Musk's position can't go around making statements about it; he's a public figure speaking about a private individual (unless we want to make the argument that Unsworth is now a public figure). But you can make all the conjecture you want, SEers! (As long as you're not famous.)

Musk said a stupid thing out of petty spite. His idea for that submarine is stupid and does seem like a PR stunt. However, given his history, I would buy that it's an extension of delusions of grandeur. He might have really believed he could swoop in with his submarine and save those kids.

Unsworth is a hero for actually helping to save those children. That's all we really know about him. Heroes can be terrible people in their private lives, but we don't know that he is. While many people do go to Thailand for shady reasons, the fact that he's a diver gives a very plausible alternate explanation for why he'd be there. It's also just a nice place to retire.

Still... I can't stop laughing that his lawyer asked the question.
[SFW] [people]
[by snowfox@12:12amGMT]

Comments

knumbknutz said @ 4:03pm GMT on 8th Dec
"...in court on Tuesday, Musk advanced a defense he first made in a deposition in August: Pedo guy, he said, did not actually mean pedophile..."

Seriously? That's what he is going with? "That's not what I really said" didn't work in the fucking 3rd grade and it shouldn't work with the superior court system, but, if you are a mega-money holding jerk that can't keep his mouth shut, I guess they CAN make it work.

backSLIDER said @ 5:06pm GMT on 8th Dec [Score:1 Insightful]
I didn't say pedophile. Because of the implications. But I wanted people to think that he was into young girls... You know, because of the implications.
Ankylosaur said @ 5:25pm GMT on 8th Dec [Score:3 Underrated]
He sent emails to Buzzfeed, a media outlet with a sizeable readership, suggesting they investigate Unsworth and claiming as fact that Unsworth moved "to Chaing Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time".

He also paid some investigator to try to dig up dirt on Unsworth.

This wasn't just one tweet with a meaningless insult in it.
steele said @ 6:09pm GMT on 8th Dec
snowfox said @ 11:12pm GMT on 8th Dec
Unfortunately, these do not seem to be details of the suit. It only covers those three tweets and none of the other activity, which is why Musk won. I don't think it's right. Even based solely on those tweets. I also don't think this would have always been the outcome of such a case in the US, but that this is a sign of our decline in standards.

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