Elon Musk calls British diver in Thai cave rescue a 'pedo' in baseless attack

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Elon Musk calls British diver in Thai cave rescue a 'pedo' in baseless attack

Accusation directed on Twitter at Vern Unsworth, who called Tesla CEO’s offer of ‘mini-sub’ to help rescuers a ‘PR stunt’

Sam Levin in San Francisco

 

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, tweeted Sunday: ‘Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.’ Photograph: Morgan Sette/EPA-EFE

 

Elon Musk came under fire on Sunday after launching an extraordinary attack on a British diver who helped rescue the boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand, baselessly calling him a “pedo” on Twitter and then doubling down.

 

Twelve boys and their football coach were rescued from the Tham Luang cave complex by an international team and after a week of intense drama.

 

The chief executive of the tech giant Tesla offered to assist the rescue mission by providing a submarine. The request was turned down. Musk lashed out on Sunday, saying he would make a video proving that his “mini-sub” would have been successful and adding: “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”

 

Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/15/elon-musk-british-diver-thai-cave-rescue-pedo-twitter

 

-- The Guardian 2018-2018-07-16

[JWRC]

Grounds for a defamation case here.

[RotMahKid]

What a looser, one more reason for me Not to buy any of his products and of course share his tweet and the post in the Guardian.

[MaiDong]

For someone so apparently bright, this bloke comes across incredibly thick sometimes.

[Wilsonandson]

From Ironman to jackass in one tweet.

[Fex Bluse]

LMAO - what an EPIC SAGA for the movie! Now we have monks who can control nature, a tech billionaire beef with both an unsubstantiated pedo diver and former governor! Wow! 

[Carib]

2 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

LMAO - what an EPIC SAGA for the movie! Now we have monks who can control nature, a tech billionaire beef with an unsubstantiated pedo diver and former governor! Wow! 

You are forgetting the nurse --diver love couple. Hollywood material for sure..

[Eligius]

10 minutes ago, RotMahKid said:

What a looser, one more reason for me Not to buy any of his products and of course share his tweet and the post in the Guardian.

Right. What a horrible thing to say about a man who has just risked his very life to save others.

 

And I feel gratified to see that this great diver has said exactly what I posted on TVF about Musk's mini-submarine: it was clearly too rigid for the (sometimes very) narrow cave chambers. That was glaringly obvious.

[doremifasol]

Ahah......so this isn't business.....this is personal.

[Swiss1960]

Mr Musk is just a narcistic and egomanic genius who can't stand it if he get's criticized. Then he does not know anything else but retort with insults. 

 

But... he is in a boat with Donald Trump in all that, except that Trump definitely is NO genius, no matter what he claims

 

Sad that this is the current "Best" America has to "offer" to the world, can add Maxine Waters to that group also

[mok199]

This cave drama, will be beat to death for years to come..we're going to need a bigger wagon for this band

[Sonhia]

Outrageous!!!

 

Because he did not make a quick buck out of the plight of others, he acts like a turd, which he obviously is, by defaming others.

 

 

 

[4MyEgo]

Elon lastminute.com

 

What a sore loser, grow up, I mean, seriously what the <deleted>

[lamyai3]

Awaiting some anxious backpedalling:

"Pedo-guy? It's short for torpedo-guy... it's what I call all my rocket and mini-submarine experts..."

[holy cow cm]

I have to agree as the submarine or say claustrophobia squeeze Tube (if the kids were awake) was not practical. I had a business partner who had similar Musk traits. He finally committed suicide after we all turned our backs on him. But he did have a brilliance, although too aggravating. 

[lamyai3]

5 minutes ago, Swiss1960 said:

But... he is in a boat with Donald Trump in all that, except that Trump definitely is NO genius, no matter what he claims

Very stable genius. IQ of a horse? 

[Fex Bluse]

On a serious note, Vern will not win this spat. The unfortunate truth, that many of us farang delude ourselves into rebutting, is that people (especially foreigners) affiliated with Thailand are given a poor reputation globally. Everyone is suspicious of farangs who end up here. And, without judging Vern, his interview (assuming it's not editorialized) lacked tact and potentially sheds some light on his character and education level. Who would tell Elon Musk to "shove it up his #$$"?

 

Many of us won't accept that Thailand is not well-regarded by outsiders (for mostly good reasons). I avoid telling anyone that I have been based here as not doing so would open me up to unnecessary attacks.

[canuckamuck]

I am not defending Musk, but Vern was wrong to be critical of Musk in the way he was.  He should have just said he didn't think the sub would work and left it at that. Why pick a fight with a billionaire? What did Vern gain from that? He should have shown some of the class that the British people keep telling us they have, and just let it lie.

[Fex Bluse]

5 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

I am not defending Musk, but Vern was wrong to be critical of Musk in the way he was.  He should have just said he didn't think the sub would work and left it at that. Why pick a fight with a billionaire? What did Vern gain from that? He should have shown some of the class that the British people keep telling us they have, and just let it lie.

Exactly...  Contrary to what everyone keeps saying of the typical Brit/English character, he seemed to have reacted crassly telling Elon publicly to shove the sub "where the sun doesn't shine". No reasonable person would say such a thing, not even a reasonably well raised child.

[Saiyok]

15 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

On a serious note, Vern will not win this spat. The unfortunate truth, that many of us farang delude ourselves into rebutting, is that people (especially foreigners) affiliated with Thailand are given a poor reputation globally. Everyone is suspicious of farangs who end up here. And, without judging Vern, his interview (assuming it's not editorialized) lacked tact and potentially sheds some light on his character and education level. Who would tell Elon Musk to "shove it up his #$$"?

 

Many of us won't accept that Thailand is not well-regarded by outsiders (for mostly good reasons). I avoid telling anyone that I have been based here as not doing so would open me up to unnecessary attacks.

More criminals in the US. If people have the wrong presumptions about Thailand that says more about their thoughts than reality.

 

 

[jspill]

30 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

without judging Vern, his interview (assuming it's not editorialized) lacked tact and potentially sheds some light on his character and education level. Who would tell Elon Musk to "shove it up his #$$"?

 

16 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

Contrary to what everyone keeps saying of the typical Brit/English character, he seemed to have reacted crassly telling Elon publicly to shove the sub "where the sun doesn't shine". No reasonable person would say such a thing, not even a reasonably well raised child.

Musk was raised well, to a high education level, private boy's school, two degrees in Physics & Economics... yet he calls someone a 'pedo' (then 'pedo guy'). Much more crass. 

 

Vern didn't say 'ass' by the way (not even a British word). He said 'he can stick his submarine where it hurts'. Quite a difference in wording, and the way he said it came off light hearted, not boorish. The video is easy to find.

[canopy]

39 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Right. What a horrible thing to say about a man who has just risked his very life to save others.

Wrong. It was a man who just said ""He can stick his submarine where it hurts".

 

39 minutes ago, Eligius said:

And I feel gratified to see that this great diver has said exactly what I posted on TVF about Musk's mini-submarine: it was clearly too rigid for the (sometimes very) narrow cave chambers. That was glaringly obvious.

Wrong. Elon is going to prove people like you wrong and Vern a liar. Elon said: 

 

"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."

 

Shots have been fired! I'll get the popcorn.

 

[Eligius]

1 minute ago, canopy said:

Wrong. It was a man who just said ""He can stick his submarine where it hurts".

 

Wrong. Elon is going to prove people like you wrong and Vern a liar. Elon said: "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. Shots have been fired! I'll get the popcorn.

 

Yes, but Musk did not accomplish this task in the very narrow time frame. While he was still fiddling around with his mini-sub, fantastic divers had already rescued the boys (or were in the process of successfully doing so)!

[Saiyok]

7 minutes ago, canopy said:

Wrong. It was a man who just said ""He can stick his submarine where it hurts".

 

Wrong. Elon is going to prove people like you wrong and Vern a liar. Elon said: 

 

"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."

 

Shots have been fired! I'll get the popcorn.

 

It's too late already. Clear PR stunt. People can read up on his family and make up their own minds on morals.

[jspill]

10 minutes ago, canopy said:

Wrong. Elon is going to prove people like you wrong and Vern a liar. Elon said: 

 

"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."

 

Shots have been fired! I'll get the popcorn.

Will need to get your mouth off his you know what before you eat the popcorn ?

 

But no, you're wrong, Elon has already deleted all the Tweets after the huge international media backlash. Elon is never going to mention this again, let alone go to Thailand. 

 

He was all about the PR, now it's turned into bad PR he'll pretend it never happened.

[canopy]

8 minutes ago, Eligius said:

but Musk did not accomplish this task in the very narrow time frame

What is surprising is the sub was completed before the rescue started. But I think the gears of rescue were already turning due to the urgency of the conditions. They were probably already committed to their plan by that time even though it had not started.

 

[Dexlowe]

Musk has so completely lost the moral high ground that it's highly unlikely he will ever regain the trust of anyone ever again. Instead of standing tall in the face of Vern's (childish) remarks, he chose petulance and called Vern a pedo -- wow! That's the very worst thing you    can do to a man. This kind of mud sticks and it gets out of control very quickly. 

[Scott]

Inflammatory post reported and removed.  

[Saiyok]

5 minutes ago, canopy said:

What is surprising is the sub was completed before the rescue started. But I think the gears of rescue were already turning due to the urgency of the conditions. They were probably already committed to their plan by that time even though it had not started.

 

Perhaps he was building subs for a while and this was just a smaller version rushed out. The idea of small subs for rescue isn't bad, just need proper pr and appropriate uses. Grown men shouldn't be talking like that on twitter.

[terminatorchiangmai]

Its all a big mistake.

He meant to say PADI guy!