ROCK SOLID
Brit cave diver branded ‘paedo’ by Elon Musk refuses to apologise for telling him to ‘stick submarine where it hurts’
A CAVE hero called a "paedo" by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk today refused to apologise for telling him to "stick his submarine where it hurts".
Brit diver Vernon Unsworth - who is suing for defamation - told an LA court he was right to dismiss the tycoon's offer of help as a "PR stunt" during the rescue of 12 boys in Thailand.
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The case stems from the pair's very public squabble last year when Mr Unsworth was part of an international team working to save a youth football team and their coach from a flooded cave network.
The tech boss said he was building a mini-submarine to guide the boys to safety - but the rescuer told CNN the scheme had "absolutely no chance of working" and said Musk and his team had been asked to leave.
Musk hit back by branding him "pedo guy" to his millions of followers on Twitter.
The caving expert, from St Albans, Herts, fought back tears yesterday as he said being branded a paedophile was "a life sentence without parole".
His voice cracking with emotion, he said: "It feels very raw. I feel humiliated, shamed, dirtied."
'PR STUNT'
Today he was challenged by Mr Musk's lawyers if he wanted to apologise for his own comments.
He replied: “My insult was to the tube and not to Mr Musk personally.
“I’m not sure how I need to apologise. It was my opinion at the time and I stand by that opinion.”
He added: “I don’t think he was cold-hearted, but I do believe it was a PR stunt.”
The Brit, 64, also revealed Prince William spoke to him about "the situation that existed with Mr Musk" when he awarded him an MBE at Buckingham Palace.
The judge stopped him revealing more about the conversation after an objection from Musk's attorney.
Earlier he had said his upset over the "pedo guy" tweet meant he could not enjoy the inauguration on what should have been one of the proudest moments of his life.
The court also heard from Mr Unsworth's estranged wife Vanessa, who said he was "really devastated" by Musk's slur and any suggestion he was a paedophile was "totally false".
She said she is "incredibly proud" of his role in the rescue, despite their split in 2013 when he was already in a relationship with his Thai girlfriend Tik.
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Mr Unsworth, a financial consultant who splits his time between Thailand and the UK, is seeking unspecified damages from the boss of Tesla and SpaceX - who admitted he's worth $20bn.
In his own testimony, he insisted his tweet was not meant to be taken literally.
He told the court he did not know the caver was part of the rescue team when he sent his "off the cuff" tweet.
He said: "I just thought he was some random creepy guy the media were interviewing.
"I thought at the time he was unrelated to the rescue."
And he added: "There are a lot of things that I say. Not all of it is completely thoughtful.
"I assume he did not mean literally to sodomise me with the submarine, just as I didn’t literally mean he was a paedophile."
He deleted the "pedo guy" tweet after a backlash from the public and pressure from investors as his company's stock dipped.
But he later labelled the cave diver a "child rapist" in a rambling email to a reporter which he claims he thought was off the record.
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To win his lawsuit, Unsworth needs to show that Musk was negligent in publishing a falsehood that clearly identified him and caused him harm.
He does not need to prove "actual malice" by Musk after the judge ruled he is not a public figure.
Although the case does not involve Tesla, Musk's Twitter habits have long been under close scrutiny, with the company's investors and regulators expressing concerns about his tweets.
With nearly 30million followers, Musk's social media account is a major source of publicity for the California car firm, which does not advertise.
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Musk, 48, said the term 'pedo guy' was a common insult when he was growing up in South Africa
British rescue worker Vernon Unsworth who led operation to save Thai schoolboys trapped in cave says Elon Musk can 'stick his submarine where it hurts'
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