Elon Musk sued for calling diver who rescued Thai boys a pedophile

Elon Musk just got the lawsuit he was looking for.

Thai cave rescuer Vernon Unsworth is now officially suing Elon Musk for calling him a pedophile on Twitter.

The feud between the billionaire Tesla CEO and the cave diving expert kicked off back in July after Unsworth, a British citizen, criticized a mini-submarine Musk had built in an attempt to aide in the efforts to save a boys soccer team and their coach from flooded caves in Thailand. 

Unlike Musk, Unsworth was a key part of the rescue efforts. Musk’s comeback to the critique involved hurling a completely unfounded accusation that the cave diver was a pedophile, or “pedo guy” as Musk called him on Twitter. Unsworth, at the time, announced he was pursuing his legal options in response to the claim.

After major public blowback, Musk finally apologized. But, a month later in August, the Tesla CEO was back at it again questioning why Unsworth hadn’t sued yet if the pedophile allegation that Musk, and Musk alone, hurled at him wasn’t true.

If this tale wasn’t bizarre enough, later that August Elon Musk sent an email to a Buzzfeed News reporter further exploring the details of the weird accusation:

I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what’s actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you fucking asshole. He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time. There’s only one reason people go to Pattaya Beach. It isn’t where you’d go for caves, but it is where you’d go for something else. Chiang Rai is renowned for child sex-trafficking.

Musk provided zero evidence for any of these claims. He also questioned Unsworth’s diving credentials and his level of involvement in the rescue operation. Unsworth has denied all of these claims and accusations. Reporters who attempted to look into the claims also came up empty-handed.

In that same email, Musk again brought up the issue of the rumored lawsuit that had yet to be filed:

As for this alleged threat of a lawsuit, which magically appeared when I raised the issue (nothing was sent or raised beforehand), I fucking hope he sues me.

Well, the lawsuit was just filed Monday in Los Angeles. The cave diver is looking for upwards of $75,000 in damages as well as a court order against Musk to stop him from making any more allegations. In addition, as Buzzfeed points out, the complaint mentions “that a separate suit will be filed in the High Court in London.”

Mashable has reached out to Unsworth’s lawyer, L. Lin Wood, for comment and will update this story when we hear back.