Elon Musk apologises to British caver for Twitter slur

Elon Musk listens at a press conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, Feb 6, 2018. (Reuters file photo)
Elon Musk listens at a press conference following the first launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, Feb 6, 2018. (Reuters file photo)

Elon Musk has apologised for calling a British caver who helped rescue 12 Thai boys from a cave a "pedo", retracting a comment that had drawn widespread outrage and briefly sent shares in Tesla tumbling.

Tesla CEO Musk issued the apology on Wednesday to Vernon Unsworth, who worked on the rescue of the "Wild Boars" football team and had ridiculed Musk's plan to recover the trapped group using a miniature submarine.

"(H)is actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader," Musk wrote on Twitter. "The fault is mine and mine alone."

"Pedo" is short for paedophile.

Musk's extraordinary tirade against Unsworth was widely condemned, raising concerns over the entrepreneur's leadership following a series of previous social media attacks on Wall Street analysts, journalists and employees.

His spat with Unsworth began after the British caving expert dismissed Musk's plan to rescue the Thai football team from the Tham Luang cave as a "PR stunt".

Unsworth had said the plan to use the device to extract the boys through a narrow series of twisting, flooded tunnels would have had "absolutely no chance of working".

He added that Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts".

The submarine "had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader", Musk said, before apologising to Unsworth.

Unsworth, who lives part of the year in Thailand, took part in the 18-day effort to retrieve the 12 boys and their coach, a mission that ended on July 10 when the last five members were extracted.

Musk's "pedo" tweet caused Tesla's shares to fall Monday, although they have since recovered the losses.

Unsworth told AFP he may take legal action against Musk over the offensive tweet, which was sent to more than 20 million followers of the entrepreneur's official account.

Learn from listening

Click play to listen to audio for this story, or download to save the file
: :

Vocabulary

  • condemned: criticised severely - ประณาม
  • entrepreneur: someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves risks - นักลงทุนทางการเงิน
  • fault: something that is wrong or not perfect; something that is wrong with a machine or system that stops it from working correctly - ข้อผิดพลาด, ข้อบกพร่อง
  • paedophile (noun): a person who is sexually attracted to children - ผู้ชอบร่วมเพศกับเด็ก
  • ridicule: to make somebody/something look silly by laughing at them or it in an unkind way - เยาะเย้ย, ล้อเลียน
  • spat: an argument or disagreement, especially over something that seems unimportant - เรื่องทะเลาะเบาะแว้ง ในเรื่องไม่เป็นเรื่อง
  • stunt: something silly or unusual to which is done to get public attention -
  • tirade: a angry speech criticising somebody/something or accusing somebody of something - การพูดประณามที่เผ็ดร้อน,การปราศรัยที่ดุเดือด

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT
MORE IN SECTION