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Congrats, Elon.
Having called Vernon Unsworth, one of the men involved in the now-famous Thai cave rescue, a ‘pedo guy’, Musk headed to court to face charges of defamation.
On Friday, a Los Angeles jury found that he was not liable for damages in a lawsuit brought against him by the British cave diver, with the trial lasting four days, and Musk’s testimony six hours.
This from Mashable:
“My faith in humanity is restored,” said Musk after the verdict was delivered.
He should be locked up for that comment alone.
In court documents, Unsworth asked for a minimum of $75,000, but his attorney, Lin Wood, suggested a total of $190 million in closing arguments on Friday.
The crux of the lawsuit is whether “pedo guy” was a literal accusation of being a pedophile, or if it was a generic insult. Under defamation law, “insults” are terms that a reasonable person wouldn’t assume as literally true, so don’t count as defamation.
Musk’s attorneys argued that “pedo guy” just meant a “creepy old man.” Unsworth’s attorneys said that, thanks to Musk’s stature and Twitter reach, the world now associates Unsworth with pedophilia.
Bit of a jump from $75 000 to $190 million there, Lin.
Elon celebrated winning by driving his Cybertruck around LA, according to Teslerati:
Musk and Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen was spotted earlier that same evening [Saturday, Dec 7] at the famed Nobu restaurant in Malibu, California with the Cybertruck.
Let’s hope nobody tried to smash a window.
Someone also captured this footage of the Cybertruck headed down the highway, with claims that Musk was behind the wheel:
I’m not a fan, but different strokes for different folks, and all that.
Finally, how is the internet having the last laugh with Elon and the ‘pedo guy’ comment?
Well, now that it’s been legally declared not defamatory, he’s getting a taste of his own medicine. These tweets compiled by Mashable:
In case you require further proof of the internet having the last laugh, fear not:
Truth bomb time – who’s having the last laugh, a guy said to be worth around $24 billion, or a few randoms on Twitter?
I think we have a clear winner.
But sure, go ahead and call him ‘pedo guy’ if you get a chuckle out of it, and it won’t cost you a cent.
[sources:mashable&teslerati&mashable]
