The best quotes from Elon Musk’s first day of ‘pedo guy’ testimony
Elon Musk has offered yet more memorable quotes on his first day of testimony at a defamation case over his calling a British cave diver a “pedo guy”, with the Tesla chief’s lawyer arguing he did not intend for the insult to be a statement of fact.
Musk tweeted “pedo guy” in reference to Vernon Unsworth, one of the people involved in the Thai cave rescue that saved 12 boys and their football coach in July 2018.
Read more: Tesla CEO Elon Musk set to testify at ‘pedo guy’ trial today
Last night, in a Los Angeles courtroom, the two came face-to-face for the first time, with Musk’s team casting the billionaire as the victim, after Unsworth allegedly provoked him.
Musk’s tweet on 15 July came after a video interview with Unsworth in which he said Musk can “stick his submarine where it hurts,” when asked about the Tesla boss’ plan to save the trapped boys with a mini submarine he created.
‘Sodomized with a submarine’
When asked about the interview, Musk said: “It was wrong and insulting, so I insulted him back,” implying he did not mean the “pedo guy” insult literally.
When Unsworth’s lawyer said Musk did not correct the record, Musk said: “No, just like [Unsworth] didn’t clarify he wanted to sodomise me with a submarine. I didn’t think it required clarification.”
“I think that would have been worse. If you called someone a motherf’er I don’t think you would have to clarify you don’t actually commit incest. It would sound disingenuous.”
‘Pedo guy’ was a ‘JDART’ tweet
In his opening statement, Musk’s lawyer referred to the tweet as a “JDART”.
He said: “It was a joking, deleted, apologized for, responsive tweet. A JDART.”
“I apologized in a tweet and again in the [pretrial] deposition, and I’ll say it again – I apologize to Mr Unsworth,” Musk said looking directly at Unsworth, who sat stony faced.
“People say a lot of things on Twitter that aren’t true,” Musk said.
Elon Musk thinks he’s not influential
Unsworth’s lawyer said: “Unsworth brought this lawsuit against Musk for accusing him of being a pedophile in what should have been one of the proudest moments of his life.” Instead, Musk brought him “shame,” Wilson said.
But in response, Musk tried to suggest he was not an influential person, despite having 22m followers on Twitter at the time – a figure which has now risen to 29m.
“I’m not sure to the degree I’m influential. I try to get people to take climate change seriously and that hasn’t worked,” Musk said. “Among those people who believe in climate change I think I have influence.”
Musk’s Twitter account is a major source of publicity for his California-based electric car company, which does not advertise.
‘He does not deserve money’
Musk lawyer Alex Spiro said Unsworth did not act after the tweet like a man who suffered because of it.
“The plaintiff is saying he has been horribly damaged, and deserves money,” Spiro said. “He doesn’t.”
Read more: Tesla CEO Elon Musk will testify at his defamation trial
Musk insisted the tweet in question was his reaction to “an unprovoked attack on what was a good-natured attempt to help the kids.”
The billionaire is expected to return to the witness stand on Wednesday for more questioning by his own lawyers.