Unsworth Vs Musk defamation trial

[SageBrush]

This was interesting reading
Elon Musk is right, ‘pedo guy’ was slang in South Africa in the 1980s– but it wasn’t that common

Backs up Elon's testimony that he was not calling Unsworth a paedophile when he tweeted 'pedo-guy.'

 

[SageBrush]

Not if it just might be true, but if you have strong reason to believe it to be true

Ah.
How about 'I read it on the internet' or 'I read it on Fox news' ?

 

[ggr]

I mostly agree with what you said. But please people, don't defend Elon to that degree where untruths are involved. Pedo Guy is not a common insult in SA or anywhere else. FULL STOP. That BS was made up by his lawyers and it is just that, BS.

When I grew up in Oz, the corresponding epithet was to call any older male a "poof". Irrespective of known or assumed sexuality. Also used by pre-pubescent children who probably had no concept what it meant (I remember asking my father what it meant...) I have no doubt at all (and there is corroboration) that the insult was in use.

 

[SageBrush]

As a world traveler who've seen a lot. I just don't like the type of guys I see at go go bars in Thailand. (doesn't mean he is a pedo, it just mean he is there to exploit disadvantaged women who will sell out for money). Unsworth fits the stereotype to a T.

A Mod deleted my first comment so here is another:

Let me get this right: you go to the bars where disadvantaged women are exploited and find fault with the other men there too ?

 

[Cobbler]

So TeslaCharts / Ryan Mac were both at the hearing?

 

[EVNow]

I believe the punitive damages they were seeking were based on Elon's wealth. I think the logic being, $75k doesn't really hurt a billionaire as much as $75 million

Have you seen this ? Vernon wanted to make the actual divers who saved the kids suffer for not keeping him in the loop. And of course he wanted lots of money. Pedo is not the right term but several equally bad terms come to mind that should be used to describe such a person.

Really, Vernon is not the hill i’d die on.

ps : Really what kind of creep wants to make Hollywood money using the story but wants to make real heroes suffer ? I guess par for the course for “expats”.

 

[BLSmith2112]

So TeslaCharts / Ryan Mac were both at the hearing?

Correct. I wish I saw the look on their faces when that verdict was read.

 

[heltok]

Have you seen this ? Vernon wanted to make the actual divers who saved the kids suffer for not keeping him in the loop. And of course he wanted lots of money. Pedo is not the right term but several equally bad terms come to mind that should be used to describe such a person.

Really, Vernon is not the hill i’d die on.

ps : Really what kind of creep wants to make Hollywood money using the story but wants to make real heroes suffer ? I guess par for the course for “expats”.

Today’s OT:

5 is Haa in thai. 555 = hahaha

 

[Tslynk67]

420 indeed

Thought the new PT around here was $700?

$TSLAQ melt-down in progress - good news is that quite a few of them are going to get Twitter bans fr what they're doing...

I kinda feel sorry for Vern, TBH. OK, he was wrong in what he said to start this whole thing, but after that he was sucked-in by the ambulance chaser, money-grabber.

 

[Tslynk67]

I wish Musk had never engaged in this fight. However, whatever sympathy Unsworth earned/accumulated throughout the trial, the immense overreach on damages instantly blew the credibility of Unsworth's team. Even with a billionaire defendant who acted like a jerk in this case, it was predictable a $190M request would backfire.

I'm glad Elon can put this behind him. Hopefully the nuisance will deter Elon from a similar mistake in the future.

Totally agree, although I blame the lawyers for the request, not Vern.

Indeed, a hard lesson for Elon, but I think given his much better behaviour on Twitter it was already learned.

 

[Tslynk67]

This whole thing tarnished my image of Elon forever. Billionaire calling someone a pedophile with no evidence, pretty much the worst type of accusation you can make about someone. Then gloats about getting away with it...

I guess we're used to Billionaires crapping on little people and smiling about it these days. Too bad Elon has joined camp.

He's a visionary... and a jerk.

Can't have much respect for the Tesla sycophants defending such behavior either.

Gave you a disagree, however I do agree that Elon was out of order when he tweeted, but after that he was conned by Unsworth's legal team who were going for a big pay-day. It was nothing about defending Vern's honour and all about extorting as much money as they could.

$190m, seriously, get the f*** outta here!

 

[Tslynk67]

Unsworth saves kids. Elon saves his ego. Yay Elon!

At the very least, Unsworth hopefully cleared his name from such a horrible accusation. Elon dared him to sue him because he thought evidence would come out supporting his pedo claim. That didn't happen.

Elon could afford great lawyers. OJ as well.

I thought that Lin Wood was supposed to be one of the top lawyer in the US?

You seem to have a big axe that needs sharpening...

 

[Tslynk67]

He wanted to make money - lots of money - because of the 15 minutes of fame he got from the Thai cave incidence. Obviously he saw lots of lots of $ signs from the incidence.

So, when Musk appeared, he was angry that the spotlight might shift to Musk, instead of being on him. So, he disparages Musk in various ways on TV.

Then, after the pedo tweet, sets him up with a fake investigator (a convict) and who feeds him nonsense. Then sues Musk for > $100M.

Doesn't look like a nice guy, if you ask me.

BTW, the horrible western press gives a lot of air time to such people instead of covering "locals" who are actually doing the hard work. One of the guys even died - but some how this guy is the "hero".

The jury clearly saw through this - and said Vernon's team didn't prove any defamation.

I don't blame Vern in the litigation part and the con-man setup, I think the lawyers took him for a ride there. I feel sorry for him actually.

 

[Tslynk67]

Speeding fines in Europe: Swede faces $1m speeding penalty

OK, can we draw a line under this whole matter and collectively agree that next time Elon should avoid phrases like PG and just call people a-holes instead?

 

[Lessmog]

Speeding fines in Europe: Swede faces $1m speeding penalty

OK, can we draw a line under this whole matter and collectively agree that next time Elon should avoid phrases like PG and just call people a-holes instead?

Oh absolutely, he should totally avoid mentioning Parental Guidance! Not sure about your alternative.

 

[Causalien]

A Mod deleted my first comment so here is another:

Let me get this right: you go to the bars where disadvantaged women are exploited and find fault with the other men there too ?

Ya, I was there with other backpackers from khaosan road to sight see and mock these ex-pats.

 

[FrankSG]

"my faith in humanity is restored" -Elon

It was probably tarnished when the judge let the case go to a jury trial! WTF was the judge thinking?! 12 people wasted 3 days of their lives dealing with this BS. That's 288 man-hours!

No actually it was tarnished last year due to the whole ordeal about the submarine. He tweeted at some point last year that his faith in humanity was shaken throughout that entire ordeal.

EDIT: I slightly misremembered the tweet. Here it is:

"This reaction has shaken my opinion of many people. We were asked to create a backup option & worked hard to do so. Checked with dive team many times to confirm it was worthwhile. Now it’s there for anyone who needs it in future. Something’s messed up if this is not a good thing."

 

[CorneliusXX]

I mostly agree with what you said. But please people, don't defend Elon to that degree where untruths are involved. Pedo Guy is not a common insult in SA or anywhere else. FULL STOP. That BS was made up by his lawyers and it is just that, BS.

It's an outdated insult, similar to how using several synonyms for gay people used to be used as a pejorative not that long ago.

Pedo was absolutely used as an insult for creepy old guys in the 90s in Australia. In fact, when I was in highschool in the 90s classmates were called a Pedo if they dated girls in the year below. I had a friend in high school who was young for his year, was dating a girl in the year below who was a couple of months older than he was, and he still copped the comment. Go figure.

The point being, it was used as a pejorative, not a statement of fact.

 

[Drax7]

Unsworth did not save kids. Please get your facts straight before embarrassing yourself.

He learned of the situation, volunteering to search, and bailed when the water went over ankle high. He was instrumental in calling in the real heroes who risked their lives, one of which lost his life. Worse, Unsworth provided the rescuers with a hand drawn map of the cave, and the team reported later the map contained many errors once they went in to search.

What was the pedo guy doing in those caves anyways

 

[SwTslaGrl]

He's a Farang