Update: Musk has deleted the tweet accusing Unsworth of being a pedophile (as well as the tweet in which he doubled down that he would "bet ya a signed dollar it's true"). For those who miss it already, here is a snapshot:

The sequence of tweets deleted by Musk can be seen here, and, as usual, there is already a snarky narrative being formed in response:

DEVELOPING STORY :::$TSLA Saboteur who hacked into Elon Musk's phone and tweeted controversial stuff has been found and detained.



Its under internal investigation, we can disclose that name of the Saboteur rhymes with "Felon Muskmelon".



Follow for more details soon... — Deepak CFO (@TezzlaCFO) July 15, 2018

He didn’t just call the British rescuer in Thailand a pedophile. He called him a pedophile because he couldn’t imagine another reason for a white guy to be in Thailand. Which is a false assumption. Sometimes white guys visit Thailand to show off their useless submarines. — Kumail Nanjiani (@kumailn) July 15, 2018

To the people in my mentions telling me to bring back Italian Elon Musk: No. No conceivable parody could be funnier than calling a rescue hero a pedophile because he made fun of your waterproof space trash boy casket — alex (@alexqarbuckle) July 15, 2018

* * *

What does a billionaire Silicon Valley liberal (or perhaps socialist, or maybe republican) do when his giant “Thai cave rescue” diversion from his auto company woes goes sideways and authorities tell him to back off?

Why handle rejection poorly and question the rescue chief's credibility, of course.

And what does said billionaire do when the Thai rescue chief tells him to "stick his submarine where it hurts" before being outed as a top donor to a GOP PAC?

Engage in a weird Twitter exchange with the Sierra Club about climate change to show the world you're an environmentalist, then call the Thai rescue chief a pedophile.

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

After Musk's boy-rescuing submarine was rejected by Thai authorities and his idea called a "PR stunt" by rescue chief Vern Unsworth, the Tesla CEO began melting down over Twitter - saying Unsworth had been "inaccurately described as rescue chief."

Unsworth, an explorer and expert cave diver who lives in Thailand's Chiang Rai province, said that Musk was "asked to leave" the cave "very quickly" - and that the Tesla CEO had "no conception of what the caves would be like.

Musk hit back - tweeting “Never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus) at any point when we were in the caves ... Only people in sight were the Thai navy/army guys, who were great. Thai navy seals escorted us in — total opposite of wanting us to leave.”

“I challenge this dude to show final rescue video,” he continued. “Huge credit to pump & generator team. Unsung heroes here.”

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. Huge credit to pump & generator team. Unsung heroes here. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018

It was then that Musk accused the man heralded worldwide as a hero - a pedo.

After Musk's shocking pedo claim, he doubled down - betting a Twitter user a "signed dollar it's true."

Maybe Thai officials had a bad feeling about his boy-rescuing submarine after Musk promised to send two tourists to the moon in 2018, only to delay the grandiose plan due to "technical challenges"? Maybe they saw pictures of Musk's makeshift tent city assembly line and didn't want to risk Elon rescuing a fraction of the boys he promised despite reassuring investors Thai officials it would be no problem? Perhaps they wanted to avoid a mid-cave battery fire?

Either way, Musk then responded to a nine day old tweet from Texas Observer journalist Christopher Hooks by calling him a jackass...

elon musk's thai cave submarine is... absurd. it doesn't make any goddamn sense pic.twitter.com/ntZo2Tghv1 — chris hooks (@cd_hooks) July 9, 2018

Stay tuned jackass … — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 15, 2018

Musk's latest gaffe comes on the heels of a Bloomberg interview in which he acknowledged the need to tone down his Twitter spats, saying "I have made the mistaken assumption - and I will attempt to be better at this - of thinking that because Somebody is on Twitter and is attacking me that it is open season," adding "This is my mistake. I will correct it."

so much for this pic.twitter.com/goCAUkEYGX — Evan Niu, CFA (@TMFNewCow) July 15, 2018

He literally just gave this interview. I will repeat that the Board and institutional investors are incurring real legal liabilities at this point. Not to mention personal career risk. Quite remarkable. $TSLA https://t.co/dDHtEsIYgq — Diogenes (@WallStCynic) July 15, 2018

Meanwhile, Musk's pedo comment is not going over well...

What's the "pedo guy" reference here? Seems like a pretty grave phrase to insert with no context or explanation: https://t.co/SOZrHXVxmx — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 15, 2018

If. If. If. You had any real evidence to support a claim like that you go to authorities. Not a twitter fight. — drew olanoff (@yoda) July 15, 2018

Elon Musk: "Nothing can outdo my GOP flap."



Elon Musk: "Hold my beer" pic.twitter.com/nxW1zGT9Op — "Elon Says" (@ElonBachman) July 15, 2018

Who did this pic.twitter.com/lf13wl8HLA — Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) July 15, 2018

If it's *not* true that the head of the Thai rescue effort is a "pedo," then Elon Musk is going to owe him a lot more than a dollar. That's just about as defamatory a comment as someone can make. — Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) July 15, 2018

Hold the World Cup a sec, elon musk just called one of the Thai rescue divers a pedo on Twitter. — PyrionFlax (@PyrionFlax) July 15, 2018

YOU CANNOT JUST RUN AROUND CALLING PEOPLE CHILD MOLESTERS BECAUSE YOU ARE RICH. https://t.co/zbU4bIVWud — Linette Lopez (@lopezlinette) July 15, 2018

Elon Musk calling one of the hero Thailand divers a Pedophile...totally fucking normal $60 billion market cap CEO behavior. $TSLA



Basically the diver criticized Elon and rather than leave it alone his narcissism couldn’t handle it and now this👇 pic.twitter.com/F7XcuaXdB3 — Ed ☯️ Humilitatem (@DowdEdward) July 15, 2018

Meanwhile $TSLA employees are drinking Red Bull’s to stay awake in order to avoid stepping in raw sewage or getting hit by joy riding forklift drivers...guys you can’t make this up...Twitter’s market cap should triple... https://t.co/2dFCRE2kcS — Ed ☯️ Humilitatem (@DowdEdward) July 15, 2018

It's true...