Elon Musk Can't Stop Calling Hero Cave Rescuer A Pedophile
Elon Musk, a tech billionaire who can’t keep his mouth shut, continues to sully the name of a British diver who helped rescue 12 boys and their coach from a cave in Thailand.
In July, the story of the missing children and their coach captured the world’s attention when they were discovered in Tham Luang Cave after heavy rainfall had trapped them for weeks. Thai Navy SEALs and volunteers carried out a dramatic rescue to bring everyone to safety.
Prior to the successful rescue, Musk offered to build a mini-submarine that the head of the rescue mission deemed “not practical.” But it was rescuer Vern Unsworth’s characterization of Musk’s attempt as a “PR stunt” that really set the Tesla and SpaceX CEO off.
“He can stick his submarine where it hurts,” Unsworth said on CNN at the time. “It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like.”
A thin-skinned Musk replied by suggesting Unsworth was a pedophile. (There is absolutely zero evidence to suggest this is true.)
“We will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo,” Musk said in a since-deleted tweet. “Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”
After swift backlash and media attention, Musk offered a half-hearted apology, saying he was mad because Unsworth “said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub.”
That should have been the end of Musk’s child-like tantrum, but on Tuesday he caused a new stir by tweeting that he didn’t cry during a recent New York Times interview in which he discussed “the most difficult and painful year of my career.”
For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That’s it. There were no tears.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018
Things went further off the rails when former TechCrunch writer Drew Olanoff mentioned Musk’s previous comments about Unsworth, which caused Musk to reiterate his false claim.
one other thing, elon. your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time when you called someone a pedo.
— drew olanoff (@yoda) August 28, 2018
“You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me?” Musk tweeted. “He was offered free legal services.”
You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services. And you call yourself @yoda …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018
Musk then asked Olanoff if he’d investigated the outrageous claim.
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Answer the question @yoda. You brought it up, not me. Did you investigate or not? If so, what did you actually do?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018
Perhaps it’s time for Musk to log off Twitter for good.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.