Elon Musk fails to have defamation case thrown out after calling Thai cave rescuer a "pedo guy"

[kuhnertdm]

Source for background info: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/17/telsa-ceo-elon-musk-sued-by-thai-rescue-diver-vernon-unsworth.html

Source for motion to dismiss: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/27/elon-musk-pedo-diver-vernon-unsworth-defamation-lawsuit-dismiss

Source (From one of Unsworth's lawyers):

 

Background: Back when one of the biggest news stories around was the story of a youth soccer team being trapped in an underwater cave in Thailand, Elon Musk publicly decided that he was going to attempt to have SpaceX engineers design a mini-submarine to aid in the rescue efforts. They built the apparatus (which ended up being a simple, small cylindrical container that may or may not have actually been able to fit into the tunnels the kids needed to go through - this is still under debate), and when they showed up to assist, the actual rescue team declined their assistance. When commenting on this on Twitter, Elon Musk called one of the divers, Vernon Unsworth, a "pedo guy". Musk later deleted all the tweets and tweeted a public apology to Unsworth for his statements.

 

Then, in response to someone on Twitter asking him about the situation, he changed his mind and doubled down by saying that it was "strange" that Unsworth had not sued him yet (Note: By that time, Musk had actually already received initial correspondence from Unsworth's lawyers). He then later tripled down in an online correspondence with Buzzfeed, in which he called Unsworth a "child rapist". He claimed in that same email that that remark was "off the record" (Note: This is not how "off the record" statements work - Both sides must agree before the remark is made that whatever the person is about to say is off the record). In the same email, Musk claimed without evidence or reasoning that the reason Unsworth was in Thailand was to find a "child bride" (Note: Unsworth has been married to 40-year-old Woranan Ratrawiphukkun for seven years now, who has publicly spoken out against Musk for this remark). By this point, Unsworth's lawyers had previously contacted Musk to request an agreement outside of court, but now that Musk has seemed adamant on not caring and continuing to double down, they have chosen to sue.

 

Story: When the suit was first filed, Musk immediately attempted to have the case dismissed, stating that because the remarks were made on Twitter, one should reasonably expect that what they are reading is an opinion, and not a fact. His lawyers also claimed that his remarks are protected by the first amendment (Note: The first amendment does not apply to cases of defamation). In a public comment on this, Unsworth's lawyer L Lin Wood stated that this reasoning is "novel but inaccurate", as "well-established law" doesn't work like that at all. On Friday, Wood announced that Musk's motion to dismiss the case was denied, which means that now, Musk must go to court to defend himself from the defamation charges.

 

Opinion: Very good that the judge isn't having any of this. And honestly, once Musk actually does go to court, I really hope that Wood doesn't allow him to settle. This is the most textbook case of defamation that I can think of, and really, the only thing that Musk had going for him (the statements were made online so they shouldn't count, somehow) has now been taken away from him. If there is no settlement, then it's almost guaranteed that Unsworth will win the case, and Musk could finally receive some actual punishment for the way he's conducted himself publicly for years.

[DIV1D3]

Sometimes Elon really is a bloody idiot, just far too vocal about stuff that has no well intentioned thought behind it. 

[BigDamn]

What if Elon is the actual pedo guy... hmmm

 

 

Please don't sue me Elon

[Radium_Angel]

He's an egomaniacal narcissistic jackass, and the sooner he fades from public view the better

[CharminUltraStrong]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

He's an egomaniacal narcissistic jackass, and the sooner he fades from public view the better

I think he deserves to be sued but I strongly disagree with you. Like it or not, the guy is innovative and a mainstay of American culture. He's been all over silicon valley and is massively successful. He owns a fucking NASA competitor for crying out loud.

[CTR640]

7 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

I think he deserves to be sued but I strongly disagree with you. Like it or not, the guy is innovative and a mainstay of American culture. He's been all over silicon valley and is massively successful. He owns a fucking NASA competitor for crying out loud.

That's called 'arrogancy'. It doesn't matter if he owns the fucking Earth or not, if he stays like that, not much people will like him.

I have no idea why he called someone a pedo guy as I haven't really understand the news article about that but calling someone a pedo guy publicly, wether it's true or not is not the right thing to do. He could have called the authorities to start investigation against that guy. You can either be innovative and massively successfull and act respectful towards anyone else and have a good personality or you can be innovative and massively successfull and be the biggest asshole on the planet.

[CharminUltraStrong]

3 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

That's called 'arrogancy'. It doesn't matter if he owns the fucking Earth or not, if he stays like that, not much people will like him.

I have no idea why he called someone a pedo guy as I haven't really understand the news article about that but calling someone a pedo guy publicly, wether it's true or not is not the right thing to do. He could have called the authorities to start investigation against that guy. You can either be innovative and massively successfull and act respectful towards anyone else and have a good personality or you can be innovative and massively successfull and be the biggest asshole on the planet.

Did you not read what I said? I said he deserves to be sued, what he said was beyond stupid. To say he hopes he fades out of the public entirely? That's where I disagree. I don't care if he's arrogant so long as he continues to build successful companies and compete with existing ones.

[DIV1D3]

3 minutes ago, CTR640 said:

That's called 'arrogancy'. It doesn't matter if he owns the fucking Earth or not, if he stays like that, not much people will like him.

I have no idea why he called someone a pedo guy as I haven't really understand the news article about that but calling someone a pedo guy publicly, wether it's true or not is not the right thing to do. He could have called the authorities to start investigation against that guy. You can either be innovative and massively successfull and act respectful towards anyone else and have a good personality or you can be innovative and massively successfull and be the biggest asshole on the planet.

I wouldn't have him fade from the public entirely, I am quite fond of Elon because of his innovation, but this was entirely uncalled for. 

He acted in the same way that a 16 year old girl would where she posts on Facebook calling Brittany a slut after Brittany got the spot of cheerleader squad captain instead of her. 

[Spotty]

- Moved to General Discussion -
Topic does not have a strong relevance to Tech so has been moved from the Tech News section

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/11724-posting-guidelines-read-before-posting/

 

[BuckGup]

18 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

He's an egomaniacal narcissistic jackass, and the sooner he fades from public view the better

Haters gonna hate lol. We wouldn't have electric cars, paypal, and space exploration would be stagnant 

[bradwiggo]

11 minutes ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

Did you not read what I said? I said he deserves to be sued, what he said was beyond stupid. To say he hopes he fades out of the public entirely? That's where I disagree. I don't care if he's arrogant so long as he continues to build successful companies and compete with existing ones.

I agree, he may be arrogant, but I think all CEOs are probably arrogant,. he is just a bit publically arrogant. I personally quite like Elon Musk, he breaks the conventional CEO stereotype. Whether or not that is a good thing is a matter of personal opinion I suppose. 

[Arika]

[Sauron]

1 hour ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

I think he deserves to be sued but I strongly disagree with you. Like it or not, the guy is innovative and a mainstay of American culture. He's been all over silicon valley and is massively successful. He owns a fucking NASA competitor for crying out loud.

I don't see how this contradicts @Radium_Angel

43 minutes ago, bradwiggo said:

I agree, he may be arrogant, but I think all CEOs are probably arrogant

Yes, a lot of CEOs are awful people...

51 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Haters gonna hate lol. We wouldn't have electric cars, paypal, and space exploration would be stagnant 

Wouldn't we? Just because he owns the companies that do this doesn't mean his contribution was crucial. Paypal wasn't founded by him at all, he merged the company we was leading with it after the fact, and neither was Tesla. Also, Tesla didn't invent electric cars...

I'll concede that spacex was originally his idea but its engineers are the ones responsible for its achievements.

1 hour ago, CharminUltraStrong said:

I don't care if he's arrogant so long as he continues to build successful companies and compete with existing ones.

Maybe he can keep investing in successful companies without making an arse of himself in the process...?

[BuckGup]

21 minutes ago, Sauron said:

I don't see how this contradicts @Radium_Angel

Yes, a lot of CEOs are awful people...

Wouldn't we? Just because he owns the companies that do this doesn't mean his contribution was crucial. Paypal wasn't founded by him at all, he merged the company we was leading with it after the fact, and neither was Tesla. Also, Tesla didn't invent electric cars...

I'll concede that spacex was originally his idea but its engineers are the ones responsible for its achievements

I was saying Tesla helped push electric cars to be viable or change some public opinions. They made them sexy and cheapish.

[CharminUltraStrong]

20 minutes ago, Sauron said:

-snip-

"the sooner he fades from public view the better" I disagreed with this statement, not the entirety of what he said. I suppose you didn't read my entire post? I don't exactly care if he makes an arse of himself, it comes down to personal opinion. He could or couldn't be an arse, I could care less. The T-Mobile CEO is pretty well known for being a shit head but he pushes a competitive phone company so people buy into it. At the end of the day, Elon isn't a Nazi or pushing some radical/hateful ideology that hurts others, outside of the whole pedo thing. Even then, so long as what he says doesn't effect me I don't care to be quite honest.

[CharminUltraStrong]

1 minute ago, BuckGup said:

I was saying Tesla helped push electric cars to be viable or change some public opinions. They made them sexy and cheapish.

What are you talking about? Are you brain dead? How are these cars NOT sexy? Smh.

[Prariedog13]

Does anybody care about what the Unsworth said BEFORE Elon tweeted? he said "can stick his submarine somewhere where it hurts" and I would think that most of us would imply you know what, so really it was Unsworth who instigated, and Elon responded with what was still kind of unnecessary, but his response was only because of what Unsworth said in the first place.

[RuffRuffmcgruff]

GG Elon, you fucking idiot.

[Sauron]

36 minutes ago, Prariedog13 said:

Does anybody care about what the Unsworth said BEFORE Elon tweeted? he said "can stick his submarine somewhere where it hurts" and I would think that most of us would imply you know what

Please finish that thought, what does that imply that would be comparable to defamation? I'm really curious.

38 minutes ago, Prariedog13 said:

so really it was Unsworth who instigated, and Elon responded with what was still kind of unnecessary, but his response was only because of what Unsworth said in the first place.

So what? One of these actions was illegal and it wasn't Unsworth's.

[LukeNukem9]

Remember when he smoked weed with that one dood?

[star_pilot475]

3 minutes ago, LukeTheCoder05 said:

Remember when he smoked weed with that one dood?

Everybody with an appreciation for memes remembers...

 

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by star_pilot475
It needed one more

[LukeNukem9]

1 minute ago, star_pilot475 said:

Everybody with an appreciation for memes remembers...

 

 

Blunt 100

 

[star_pilot475]

Elon Musk can be an idiot sometimes but honestly he’s kinda cool sometimes too. Who else owns a rocket company and a car company and a company that does whatever the hell it wants to (aka the boring company ) 

[Derkoli]

2 hours ago, bradwiggo said:

I agree, he may be arrogant, but I think all CEOs are probably arrogant,. he is just a bit publically arrogant. I personally quite like Elon Musk, he breaks the conventional CEO stereotype. Whether or not that is a good thing is a matter of personal opinion I suppose. 

I mean he aint exactly serious on twitter lol. just take a look at his pfp

[Derkoli]

6 minutes ago, LukeTheCoder05 said:

Blunt 100