Elon Musk revives Thai cave diver 'pedo' incident, says it's 'strange' rescuer hasn't sued

Mike Snider | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Thai cave rescue diver may sue Elon Musk for calling him a 'pedo' British diver Vernon Unsworth, who was part of the team that recently rescued a Thai youth soccer team trapped in a cave, is considering legal action against Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk

Another day, another Elon Musk Twitter kerfuffle.

The Tesla CEO and co-founder resurrected his calling of Vern Unsworth, the British diver who assisted in the Thai cave rescue last month, a "pedo" while conversing on Twitter on Tuesday.

"You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services," Musk said in a response to Drew Olanoff, who is vice president of communications for Scaleworks, a San Antonio-headquartered venture equity firm.

Some background: Musk called Unsworth a "pedo" on Twitter last month after Unsworth criticized a mini-submarine Musk contributed to the rescue attempt of 12 Thai soccer boys and their coach trapped in a cave with their coach.

Unsworth called the submarine "a PR stunt" during an interview with CNN. "He can stick his submarine where it hurts," Unsworth said. "It just had absolutely no chance of working."

Musk responded in a since-removed tweet: "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."

Subsequently, Unsworth said he might sue – and Musk apologized.

And there it remained until Tuesday when, amid a Twitter discussion about an interview earlier this month with The New York Times during which the reporters wrote that Musk was driven to tears. "This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career,” he said in the story. “It was excruciating.”

Since then, Musk has said there were no tears, but the Times has stood by its story.

Musk on Tuesday chimed in on a Twitter thread created when Global Digital Women founder Tijen Onaran posted a link to a Forbes column written by Amy Nelson, founder and CEO of The Riveter, which is a network of community and workspaces built by women for all workers. In the column, she considered the plight of the few women CEOs and what the response might have been had one of them cried.

"Female founders must constantly consider how they are perceived in both business and life, which creates a tension that doesn’t allow us to be fully vulnerable or transparent," she said.

Musk joined the discussion tweeting, "For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That's it. There were no tears."

For the record, my voice cracked once during the NY Times article. That’s it. There were no tears. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018

That led to Olanoff saying, "Your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time you called someone a pedo."

one other thing, elon. your dedication to facts and truth would have been wonderful if applied to that time when you called someone a pedo. — drew olanoff (@yoda) August 28, 2018

At that point, Musk offered his comment, "You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services."

You don’t think it’s strange he hasn’t sued me? He was offered free legal services. And you call yourself @yoda … — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 28, 2018

To that, Olanoff posted, "What i think is especially strange here is that you're wondering why he hasn't sued you while the rest of us are wondering why you did something so egregious that he could sue you for in the first place."

i think a lot of things are strange, elon. what i think is especially strange here is that you're wondering why he hasn't sued you while the rest of us are wondering why you did something so egregious that he could sue you for in the first place. — drew olanoff (@yoda) August 28, 2018

Musk then went on to question Olanoff, who's Twitter moniker is "Yoda," about whether he had investigated the case.

When contacted by Sky News about the renewed controversy, Unsworth said, "It's all being dealt with, that's all I can say."

However, an attorney representing Unsworth says a legal filing is imminent. "We are finalizing a complaint against Musk and expect to file it in the next few days," L. Lin Wood, an Atlanta-based defamation expert, told USA TODAY.

In a letter dated Aug. 6 sent to Musk, a copy of which was given to USA TODAY and was first reported on by BuzzFeed, Wood writes: “You published through three different tweets to your twenty-two million followers that Mr. Unsworth engages in the sexual exploitation of Thai children, and you did so at a time when he was working to save the lives of twelve Thai children. You did so without any basis. According to a subsequent Twitter post, you did so out of anger.”

It's just the latest Twitter hubbub Musk has created. Three weeks ago, he tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private – a move that has led to at least two class-actions suits being filed and a possible investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last week, Musk said Telsa would remain publicly-traded.

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.