British cave diver sues Elon Musk for defamation over “pedo guy” tweets

Enlarge / Elon Musk in 2015. (credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

For weeks, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been spoiling for a legal fight with Vernon Unsworth, the British cave diver who played a key role in rescuing a dozen teenagers and their coach from a flooded cave in Thailand.

After Unsworth criticized the “submarine” Musk built to help with the rescue effort, Musk responded by calling Unsworth a pedophile—without a shred of evidence. Unsworth then threatened to sue Musk for defamation.

“I fucking hope he sues me,” Musk said in an email to a Buzzfeed News reporter in late August.