Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the executive with a “Don’t Hold Back” sticker placed atop every one of his phone and computer screens, didn’t need to poke the bear last night. It seems there’s already a libel suit being loaded into the chamber, ready to fire in his direction.
In a Twitter exchange he could easily have avoided by tidying up around the house, preparing a wholesome snack, getting this owner the repairs he’s been waiting six months for, or perhaps reading one of Lee Iacocca or Bob Lutz’s books, Musk suggested, once again, that a British diver he’s already apologized to is a pedophile, again without offering evidence.
Asking why Vernon Unsworth hasn’t filed a lawsuit against him, Musk then practically dared the cave rescuer to sue. He’ll probably get his wish, especially after last night’s antics.
The digital ink was barely dry on Musk’s tweets when BuzzFeed News got its hands on a letter sent from Unsworth’s lawyers to Musk’s home. Dated August 6th, the letter explains that Unsworth has retained legal counsel and is in the process of “preparing a civil complaint for libel.”
Claiming Musk’s comments were “false” and “defamatory,” Atlanta-based lawyer L. Lin Wood wrote, “You published through three different tweets to your twenty-two million followers that Mr. Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children. You did so without any basis. According to a subsequent Twitter post, you did so out of anger.”
Though Unsworth, 63, was not physically involved in the rescuing of a Thai soccer team trapped in a flooded cave last month, his background in cave diving was essential in crafting their rescue. Still, Musk later told BuzzFeed, “Have you actually done any research at all?” adding, “For example, you incorrectly state that he is a diver, which shows that you know essentially nothing and have not even bothered to research basic facts.”
BuzzFeed since confirmed that the British cave explorer and diver is indeed a diver, and owns much diving equipment. Musk did say whether he received the letter from Unsworth’s lawyer.
At the time of publication, Tesla’s stock had fallen 2.3 percent in Wednesday trading.
[Image: Tesla]
Good job, Elon.
Elon had ONE job, and … errh, TWO jobs .. well, lessee … Tesla, SpaceX, Boring Company … THREE jobs, and still had time on his hands to tweet away his fortune.
Musk is becoming like the character Ryan Howard from the NBC show, The Office, after he moved to New York City.
It would be entertaining to get a hair sample from Musk to see what all has been in his system.
Medication is for closers, Elon.
This sort of behavior is working really well for a certain budding Buzz Windrip so I don’t see why Elon can’t give it a shot in his corner of the corporate world.
TDS
And thank God for that. TDS is just my immune system reacting appropriately to this invasive fungus.
You going to try to insult me for not having syphilis as well?
And laine, since you’re an apparent expert, I wonder if you would like to co-found another acronym to describe a new complex of mental illnesses.
I’m thinking TSS, for Trump Sycophant Syndrome. This one should feel familiar. It should not be mistaken for DTS, which describes the President’s malady, as TSS is applicable to his boot-lickers.
It gets complicated, though, because there’s TSS var. Elon, also known as Tesla Sycophant Syndrome. The mental health community is utterly baffled by the demographic difference in sufferers, as they are often viciously at odds with each other politically despite the respective namesakes of their diseases exhibiting nearly identical behaviors.
Also, there is confusion as to the meaning of TDS since the discovery of Twitter Derangement Syndrome. I propose the use of TrDS and TwDS for clarity and consistency.
30, 30…..
Why everything has to eventually become about Trump?
Don’t you have anything better to talk about?
This is borderline trolling you know
oh, and posting nothing but “TDS” isn’t trolling?
It’s a day-old almost-dead thread with 12 comments on a car website that continually turns towards politics, particularly by the commenter I’m responding to. Yes, it’s borderline trolling.
But as they say, the solution to trolling is to keep on scrolling!
Malignant, late stage TDS.
Sad
Breathtaking stupidity. Tesla’s board is acting like GM’s pre-bk “board of bystanders”, a monicker aching to be redeployed.
True, but this ain’t GM – Tesla is basically Musk writ large. How do you rein the guy in when he IS the company?
Elon’s about as close as you’re going to get to a modern-day Howard Hughes – brilliant but erratic.
This must pose a real quandry for Tesla’s executives.
“This must pose a real quandry for Tesla’s executives.”
Cash in any/all stock/options. Run for the nearest Silicon Valley job fair.
Musk is going to tweet Tesla to its demise; he’s clearly addicted and his judgment is impaired. This can’t have a good ending.
@james, Doug Ford filed to sell his last 22.5k shares the day of the infamous tweet.
“Tesla is basically Musk writ large. How do you rein the guy in when he IS the company?”
Easy. Ask Apple
@jk, if you made $1.5 million per year on the Board, I’d stick around too as long as I had legal counsel.
Going mental on Twitter. I wonder where he got THAT from?
A fellow genius.
Get that lawsuit in quick, while he still has money!!