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AFP
Mr Musk (D) called the British diver Mr Unsworth "pedo guy"
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had no plans to accuse a British diver of being a pedophile when he l? called "pedo guy" on Twitter.
Vern Unsworth, 64 – who helped rescue 12 Thai boys from an underwater cave in 2018 – sued Musk for defamation.
In court documents, Mr. Musk's lawyers argued that in South Africa, where he had grown up, the term "pedo" is commonly used to refer to a "scary old man".
The conflict began after Mr. Unsworth spoke about Mr. Musk in an interview with CNN.
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During the interview, Mr Unsworth said the submarine submarine sent by Mr Musk in Thailand to help with the rescue would not work and was a publicity stunt.
He added that Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts".
Mr. Musk responded on Twitter by calling him "pedo guy". Later he deleted the tweets and apologized after a huge scandal.
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Mr. Unsworth brought a defamation action against Mr. Musk in Los Angeles.
On Monday, at the hearing in court, Mr. Musk said: "This is synonymous with" scary old man "and is used to insult the appearance and behavior of a person. nobody and not to accuse someone of pedophilia. "
"I did not intend to accuse Mr Unsworth of engaging in pedophilia," he added. "In response to the insults he had during the interview with CNN, I wanted to insult him by expressing my opinion that he looked like a scary old man."
Mr. Musk also stated in his statements to the court that his assistant hired a private investigator who "stated that Mr. Unsworth was associated with Europeans who engaged in abusive sexual behavior in Thailand".
Unsworth, who lives partly in Thailand with his 41-year-old partner, has denied all charges of wrongdoing.
His attorney, Lin Wood, told the AFP news agency: "Musk's petition is as shocking to the truth and the sworn testimony developed in this case is the same as his original false and heinous accusation of pedophilia ".
The defamation case is scheduled for December 2.
Mr. Musk's comments on Twitter have been controversial on other occasions.
In April, he reached an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on his tweets, which also limits his use of Twitter.
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