Tech genius and billionaire Elon Musk described a British diver who helped rescued 12 Thai boys who were trapped in a flooded cave as “pedo guy” on Twitter.
Musk’s tirade was sparked by criticism from the diver, Vern Unsworth, saying that Musk’s proposal to rescue the boys using one of his special six-foot submarines showed that the entrepreneur “had no conception of what the cave passage was like.”
Unsworth suggested that Musk’s submarine, which was never used, was merely part of a “PR stunt,” and that he ought to “stick his submarine where it hurts.”
Simulating maneuvering through a narrow passage pic.twitter.com/2z01Ut3vxJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2018
Musk was not amused. He proposed that Unsworth’s role in the rescue mission was not all that it seemed.
“Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves,” Musk wrote Sunday, referencing the trip he took to Thailand to provide the submarine equipment to the rescue operation.
“Water level was actually very low & still (not flowing) — you could literally have swum to Cave 5 with no gear, which is obv how the kids got in. If not true, then I challenge this dude to show final rescue video,” Musk added, saying the “unsung heroes” of the mission were instead the crew operating the pumps and generator that reduced water levels.
“You know what, don’t bother showing the video,” he continued. “We will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo. Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.”
You know what, don’t bother showing the video. We will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo. Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018
Musk had been replying to tweets from Zeynep Tufekci, an associate professor at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina, who wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times about what Musk “should learn” from the cave rescue.
Amid backlash to his comments, Musk appeared to stand by what he said. Tufekci was “dumbfounded by this.”
“I’d understand getting mad at me,” Tufekci wrote, adding, “but Vern Unsworth is, by all accounts I saw, a key hero of the miraculous rescue. The kids certainly—and many more divers likely—would be dead if not for him. Apology badly needed.”
Musk has yet to apologize.
