Caver felt 'shamed, dirtied' by Musk tweet

Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk leaves Los Angeles federal court on December 3, 2019. (AFP photo)
Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk leaves Los Angeles federal court on December 3, 2019. (AFP photo)

LOS ANGELES: A British caver who helped rescue the Wild Boars last year said Wednesday he felt "humiliated" and "dirtied" by a tweet by Elon Musk.

Speaking at the a trial in Los Angeles to determine whether Mr Musk's comment constituted defamation, Vernon Unsworth said the entrepreneur's tweet referring to him as "pedo guy" had branded him as a paedophile.

"It's disgusting," Mr Unsworth told the court. "I feel humiliated, shamed, dirtied."

He said Mr Musk's Twitter rant had resulted in his name being associated with paedophilia.

Mr Musk's highly publicised row with Mr Unsworth erupted in July 2018 after the British caver dismissed the entrepreneur's proposal to build a mini-submarine to rescue the boys stuck in the cave as a "PR stunt."

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

Attorneys for both sides in court have been going over the meaning of the term "pedo guy," which Mr Musk claims was a common insult in South Africa, where he grew up, and meant nothing more than "creepy old man".

Mr Musk also referred to Mr Unsworth in email messages as a "child rapist."

The trial began Tuesday and is expected to end Friday.

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Vocabulary

  • attorney: a lawyer - ทนาย
  • creepy: scary, spooky in a way that makes you feel uneasy or disgusted - น่าขยะแขยง, น่ากลัว
  • defamation: the offence of writing or saying something bad about someone that is not true and makes people have a bad opinion of them - การใส่ร้าย
  • dirtiness (noun): the quality of being unclean or unpleasant - ความสกปรก
  • entrepreneur: someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves risks - นักลงทุนทางการเงิน
  • erupt (verb): to start suddenly - ปะทุขึ้น
  • humiliated: made to feel so ashamed - รู้สึกเสียเกียรติ
  • paedophile (noun): a person who is sexually attracted to children - ผู้ชอบร่วมเพศกับเด็ก
  • rant: a loud and angry complaint about something - พูดโวยวาย, พูดโผงผาง
  • rapist: someone who commits the crime of forcing someone to have sex -
  • row: a serious disagreement about an issue between people, organisations or countries - การทะเลาะวิวาท
  • stunt: something silly or unusual to which is done to get public attention -
  • trial: the process of examining a case in a court of law and deciding whether someone has or has not committed a crime - การพิจารณาคดี

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