Vernon Unsworth, Cave Driver who was the part of rescue team which saved boys’ soccer team stuck inside a cave in Thai National Park is suing Tesla CEO Elon Musk for defamation after Musk published several tweets accusing Unsworth of being a “pedo guy”. Earlier this summer, Musk tried to help him as he led a rescue of 12 young boys.
According to Unsworth’s lawyer L.Lin Wood, “Musk falsely accused him of being guilty of odious crimes. He also added that musk influence and money cannot change his lies into the truth or protect him from wrongdoing in a court of Law”. Now Unsworth and his lawyer are asking for $75000 in damages and order to prevent musk from making any more defamatory statements.
This all started with Musk trying to be a Hero. When the news of flooding has detained the boy’s soccer team inside a cave in Thai national park, broke out, musk offer to send a submarine(a boy-sized) down to aid the rescue effort. Musk also traveled to the rescue site. When Musk arrived the rescue was already underway. Only four boys remained in the cave at that time, the submarine apparently was not needed.
Unsworth later told in the interview with CNN that the mini-submarine Musk had proposed was too big to navigate in the tight tunnels. Unsworth also said that Musk effort was a “PR stunt”. In response, Musk made many tweets about Unsworth, calling into question his story, his credentials, and also accused him of being a pedophile. Musk later deleted the tweets and offered an apology, according to the complaint.
But after all this Musk wasn’t done. He later questioned in a tweet that why Unsworth hasn’t sued him yet.