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Diver attacked by Elon Musk as ‘pedo guy’ is prepping a libel suit

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https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/29/diver-attacked-by-elon-musk-as-pedo-guy-is-prepping-a-libel-suit/
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/articl...sk-called-a-pedo-threatened-to-sue#.ap7yY6abq
lashman linked me
At the time Musk said Unsworth's comment had angered him, and that had made him lash out, but he also added: "Nonetheless, his 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. The fault is mine and mine alone."

The public element of the episode might have ended there but earlier this week Musk dredged it all up again by repeating his offensive insinuation against Unsworth during a debate with ex-TechCrunch journalist Drew Olanoff — who had brought up the "pedo guy" attack as an example of Musk himself telling untruths.

Yet instead of reiterating his apology to Unsworth, Musk doubled down on his original offensive attack — writing: "You don't think it's strange he hasn't sued me? He was offered free legal services."
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We contacted the law firm for confirmation that it is representing Mr Unsworth in a defamation suit against Musk. Partner Lin Wood was unavailable to speak about the matter when we called but he confirmed via email that the firm is representing Unsworth in a defamation suit against Musk, and that it is preparing a legal action.

In the letter sent by the firm to Musk's home earlier this month Wood informs Musk he has been retained by Unsworth on account of the defamatory statements made by Musk on Twitter alleging that he is a pedophile.

Wood also writes that he is preparing a civil complaint of libel and invites Musk to contact him "in an attempt to avoid litigation and to see the public record corrected".

It's not clear whether or not Musk had seen the letter at the time of his tweets to Olanoff.

We've reached out to Musk (via Twitter) for comment on the legal action and to ask whether he will be withdrawing his repeat allegation against Unsworth. We'll update this story with any response.
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Fat4all

Fat4all

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double down?

more like

trouble down

but instead of down, it's up

trouble up
 
TheCthultist

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Oct 27, 2017
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Ha! Alright that's a pretty good follow up to the quote in the other thread where musk called him out on not suing him... though, considering how much money old Elon there can throw at the problem, I'm not super confident on anything ultimately coming of this.
 
OP
OP

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i think a court should settle on making musk take his dipshit cylindrical coffin through the cave
 
Skelepuzzle

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Apr 17, 2018
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This might turn out to be the easiest case of "get paid" ever because Elon is incapable of shutting the fuck up.
 
Fat4all

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TheCthultist said:
Ha! Alright that's a pretty good follow up to the quote in the other thread where musk called him out on not suing him... though, considering how much money old Elon there can throw at the problem, I'm not super confident on anything ultimately coming of this.
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id imagine a large firm would be willing to go pro bono with the publicity and likelihood of a settlement
 
apocat

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Good. I'm tired of billionaires thinking they're above both the law and common decency.
 

finfinfin

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Jul 26, 2018
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I hope he gets a swift settlement and an apology, because it'll be even funnier when Musk goes after him again next month.
 
duckroll

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apocat said:
Good. I'm tired of billionaires thinking they're above both the law and common decency.
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Sadly though, they kinda are. Him getting sued and losing the suit will hurt his ego, but in terms of the law and common decency, there's no way to really punish them on any sort of equivalent level that would be meaningful. The deterrence of randomly calling a person a pedophile in public because you don't like them is supposed to be that it can hurt your pocket if you get sued. So you think twice about doing that even if you're a bad person who has no decency. But for a billionaire it's nothing. He can say whatever he wants and pay whatever he subsequently has to, and it wouldn't deter him one bit. There has to be actual repercussions for this to actually matter to him - like the Tesla board forcing him to resign for example. But they wouldn't do it because they believe that without him the company, and their financial interests, will suffer.
 
MegaBeefBowl

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Oct 31, 2017
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How much is Musk worth? Over 10 billion at least, right?

So they'll settle for an amount that means literally nothing to Musk and nothing will change.
 
Venuslulu

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Oct 28, 2017
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Elon is the embodiment of all the "chase the bag follow your dreams or else you're a loser" type people i'm stuck seeing on twitter.

How you treat people is unimportant, and your work is above all human decency.
 
Daphne

Daphne

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Oct 27, 2017
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This has to be one of the most open and shut defamation cases ever. Shame there's no punishment like percentage of wealth in this case so Musk might have to actually care about the amount.
 
Syder

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Oct 25, 2017
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This case, from my very limited knowledge of libel law, seems pretty cut-and-dry in favour of Unsworth but Elon Musk is a billionaire.
 
KtotheRoc

KtotheRoc

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Good. Not that I think losing the suit will change Musk in any way, shape, or form.
 
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