American businessman Elon Musk has been acquitted of defamation - he called a rescue diver on Twitter a "pedo type". The US media released a jury decision in Los Angeles on Friday ended a brief process. "My belief in humanity is restored," Musk commented on the verdict, according to the New York Times.
Background is the rescue operation for a youth football team that had been trapped by water masses in a cave in Thailand in June 2018. At that time, Musk proposed the use of a mini-submarine, which was then built in no time by its space travel company SpaceX and brought to Thailand. It was not used because it was unsuitable for the project, according to the rescue line.
The British diver Vernon Unsworth had publicly criticized the submarine proposal as a PR gag and said that Musk could "push his submarine where it hurts". Not only did Musk doubt Unsworth's importance in the bailout, but in a tweet he also referred to his 22 million followers as a "pedo type". Unsworth sued Musk for defamation and demanded $ 190 million ($ 172 million) in damages.
Mona Shafer Edwards / REUTERS
Court of Elon Musk
In court, Musk later defended his choice of words by stating that "pedo-type" was a "general insult." His lawyer spoke of "teasing tweets in a dispute among men". He did not want to call the rescue diver seriously pedophile, but as a "disgusting fellow," Musk said. He emphasized that he apologized several times.