A Silicon Valley resident had a big day yesterday. After finally revealing the real, live, human being he plans to stuff on top of a rocket for a journey around the moon, this same resident also received notice of a lawsuit filed against him. Big, big day.
What’s amazing about Vernon Unsworth’s libel suit is how completely avoidable it was. However, as we’re dealing with the mind of Tesla CEO Elon Musk here, the suit — which accuses Musk of libel, assault, and slander — seemed from the outset to be unavoidable. This is a man who goaded the litigant to sue even after apologizing for calling a man he’s never met a “pedo” on Twitter. Musk then forgot all about the apologies and doubled down on the unsubstantiated claim, even as Unsworth secured legal representation.
And why? Unsworth helped rescue a Thai soccer team from a flooded cave but had the nerve to criticise Musk’s homemade submarine, which rescuers never employed in the cave extraction. It’s enough to make one believe that only a certain type of personality makes it big in Silicon Valley.
According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in a United States District Court in California, Unsworth began caving in 1971, later finding himself involved in several cave rescues in the UK due to his knowledge of local cave systems. The British resident co-owns a house in Thailand with his “significant other,” a 40-year-old nail salon owner named Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, the suit claims. After first visiting the country in 2011, Unsworth’s years-long mapping and exploration of the cave system at the site of the rescue led Thai authorities to seek out his expertise.
The details of the rescue make for an interesting read. However, after Unsworth and other members of the rescue team coordinated an extraction with the help of navy divers, the Brit told a news outlet that Musk’s offer of a homemade, child-carrying submarine was useless for its intended purpose. Not mincing words, Unsworth called it a PR stunt and said Musk could stick his sub “where it hurts.”
It was then that Musk took to Twitter, and, in response to another tweet, called Unsworth a “pedo.” During an angry Twitter exchange with a BuzzFeed reporter weeks later, Musk again alluded to the real reasons for Unsworth’s trips to Thailand, questioning why the threatened lawsuit hadn’t landed on his doorstep. In an angry email sent to the reporter, Musk called Unsworth a “child rapist” and suggested his involvement in human trafficking.
The suit refutes each of Musk’s accusations. Citing Musk’s wealth, status, and vast social media reach, the lawsuit states, “As the direct and proximate result of Musk’s false and defamatory accusations, Mr. Unsworth suffered damage to his reputation in the State of California, as well as on a national and international basis.” The suit seeks $75,000 in damages, adding that another suit filed in a British court will seek to repair Unsworth’s reputation on home soil.
One wonders how Howard Hughes would have handled criticism of his Spruce Goose, had Twitter existed in the 1940s.
[Image: JRE/YouTube]
$75,000? Who’s Unsworth’s attorney, Dr. Evil? It’s Elon Musk for cryin’ out loud, go for $100 million or something. Good grief.
I think that’s actually a good move. Look at it this way: If you’re this guy, your main concern is probably restoring your reputation. The only way to counter Musk’s publicity is with publicity of your own; ask for $10m or $50m and everyone says: Ah hah! He’s just trying to get money, he’s greedy – etc. Musk’s fans get to pretend he’s suddenly the victim.
OTOH, suing for $75k makes it clear that this isn’t about the money, and means that resulting positive *news of the suit itself* may be sufficient to repair some of the damage to Mr. Unsowrth’s name.
Elon will somehow manage to raise that sum to 7,5 billion. Then not pay a cent of it himself.
If I were to predict the future, I’d say no matter if the sum is $75K or $7,5M, he’ll open a GoFundMe page or something and his cult followers will pay it for some reason.
You have to prove you’re damaged the amount requested. Not a chance that’s happening if you say $100M.
He should have sued MuskRAT for the shirt off his back and the blunt out of his hand.
$75k won’t teach that arrogant, narcissistic, unintelligent fraud a lesson.
Why is there a photo of Jerry Mathers smoking weed at the top of this story?
I think he looks like John Candy, with dark hair.
“My friends call me Ox. You might have noticed that, uh, I’ve got a slight weight problem”
Cannot unsee.
Oops, clicked on The Onion by mistake. Back to TTAC.
Elon Musk is BSC. I’m sure there are more nuanced descriptors preferred by APA types, but I’ll just go with BSC. People who suffer this problem are impulsive — they do things that are illogical and often self-destructive. Don’t try to understand or explain their actions, there is no rational explanation.
It took me longer than I care to admit to figure out what BSC was. Like magic, it clicked.
You talking borderline?
This will be settled out of court for a non-disclosed sum, the end.
I read elsewhere that the suit was for “claims of $75,000 OR MORE”, meaning, he’s not asking for a specific amount, but rather TBD by the jury – the $75,000 is just to determine which category of libel he’s suing under. Kind of like “small claims court” vs. “regular court”. This suit is definitely in “possibly really big damages awarded” court.
Tesla’s market share is less than 1%, yet it gets 50%+ of media coverage.
It would be like ESPN showing cricket and Aussie Rules Football 12 hours a day.
Tesla’s market share is less than 1%, yet it spews out 99,99999% of the BS and crazy.
Maybe because the CEOs of FCA, GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, etc don’t go around accusing people of being a pedophile because they had the audacity to call them out for an obvious PR stunt. Besides, their “PR stunts” usually don’t involve offering to fix some crisis with an outlandish and useless offer of some crap idea that solves nothing. At the most, they’ll give money after a disaster or sponsor a program for breast cancer, etc. You know, something worthwhile and decent.
Like it or not Elon’s accusation strikes a cord with a lot of people. In any major metro area everyone knows someone who brags about going to Thailand regularly for, uh, the culture and the history, yeah, that’s it. That’s someone we don’t allow our kids to go near.
If you’d spent a few winters in England, you would not need to ask why an Englishman might choose to retire to a beach town in Thailand.
Define “a lot.” Outside the most rabid Muskrats I’ve seen very little to indicate anyone else takes Elon’s drug-addled blatherings against Unsworth seriously.
There is a consensus that a proportion of people travelling to Thailand go there to indulge in the services of the oldest profession. It’s a COMPLETELY different thing to accuse someone of messing around with CHILDREN!!
I’ve been to Thailand several times (with the wife) and know many others who have gone there as well. Never heard such a stereotype that people go there for underage trafficking. Heck, most Americans know nothing about Thailand outside of Phad Thai. If there is a stereotype, it’s that single guys are there for the ladies of the night, or in the case of older gents they want to pick up a young bride (though certainly not a “child” bride as Musk has accused him of doing).
Unsworth’s girlfriend is quite attractive.
I’m surprised he didn’t sue in the UK where libel laws are much tougher and stacked against the defendant.
Tsk tsk, read the article, my good fellow!
He plans to.
Popehat has a good analysis of the case. https://www.popehat.com/2018/09/17/cave-diver-vernon-unsworth-sues-elon-musk/
This guy should sue, and I hope he wins.
I almost have to think the Elon is on drugs when he Tweets such nonsense.
One would hope so, sort of.
According to Elon, he was…Ambien