Elon Musk is very rich and powerful. Among other things he is cofounder of PayPal, founder and CEO Tesla Inc., CEO and lead designer of SpaceX, conceptualiser of the Hyperloop and responsible for various hugely successful ventures. Legend has it that he had taught himself computer programming by age 10, so clearly he is also a brainiac with a devoted social media following. But he is also in the news for the wrong reasons at times.
Remember the Thai cave rescue? Musk had famously offered to help the authorities with their rescue mission. He had various innovative; not necessarily realistic ideas to share.
One of the divers actually involved in the rescue mission, Vernon Unsworth said in an interview that Musk’s rescue offers, including his rescue submarine were just a PR stunt; that he could “stick his submarine somewhere it hurts”. Now this may be uncalled for, but what Musk said in response was even more so: he called Unsworth a ‘pedo’ (pedophile) without any basis for such an assertion.
Musk has a huge following on Twitter, so obviously what he says counts for a lot. Calling someone a pedophile and sticking to that position based on some wild assumptions seems to smack of egotism.
Musk was a bit like a dog with a bone; he just wouldn’t let go! He challenged Unsworth to sue him for defamation; bizarrely alleging that the lack of legal action pointed to Unsworth’s guilt! He made more wild allegations about Unsworth living in a part of Thailand ‘renowned for child sex trafficking’ and taking a ‘child bride’ who was ’12 years old at the time’.
He smoked pot on a live podcast… not illegal where he was, it must be clarified. This didn’t stop Tesla stocks from dipping however and calling into question Musk’s erratic behavior and his ability to lead his various enterprises efficiently.
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