Elon Musk Apologizes for Calling British Diver a “Pedo”

Vernon Unsworth said Musk’s submarine was a “PR stunt.”

elon musk
Tesla founder Elon Musk is the highest-paid CEO of all time.
Joshua Lott/Getty Images

Elon Musk has apologized for calling a British diver who was intricately involved in the Thai cave rescue a “pedo guy.”

This very public feud started after Vernon Unsworth, who played a crucial role in the rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave system in Thailand, called a submarine built by engineers from Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Tesla, a “PR stunt” and it had “absolutely no chance of working.” During an interview with CNN, Unsworth said Musk could “stick his submarine where it hurts,” according to Quartz.

Musk responded through a series of tweets in which he called Unsworth a pedophile. But he apologized through a new series of tweets on Thursday, saying his words were “spoken in anger.”

“Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader,” Musk said in the tweets.

Tesla’s stock fell by as much as 3 percent on Monday after Unsworth said he was considering suing Musk for libel. Shares recovered on Tuesday.

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.