Elon Musk launches fresh attack on British diver over ‘pedo’ comment
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has revisited his earlier controversial comments in which he called a British diver helping out in a rescue effort for a group of young Thai footballers a paedophile.
In the midst of a Twitter spat last night regarding his interview with the New York Times at the beginning of this month, Musk entered a second war of words with another Twitter user to say it was "strange" Vernon Unsworth, the diver in question, hadn't begun legal proceedings.
"You don't think it's strange he hasn't sued me? He was offered free legal services. And you call yourself @yoda," Musk replied to PR executive Drew Olanoff, who goes by the name @yoda on Twitter.
Last month, Musk accused Unsworth of being a "pedo guy" after the diver, who is based in Thailand, criticised the billionaire's plans to use a miniature submarine in rescuing the 12 boys trapped in an underwater cave.
Musk later apologised for his comment after the ensuing backlash it caused.
Read more: Elon Musk could face legal action after Thai cave rescuer ‘pedo’ comments
Olanoff and Musk then continued the public exchange with several more tweets, as Musk questioned Olanoff over why he hadn't investigated the paedophilia accusation in more depth.
Tesla's share price fell 2.32 per cent as markets closed in the US late last night, and moved very little in after-hours trading while the Twitter thread was ongoing.
The news comes after Musk abandoned a high-profile attempt to take Tesla off the public stock exchange last week, which had embroiled the billionaire and his electric vehicle firm in controversy.
Read more: Elon Musk: Tesla to remain a public company
On 7 August, Musk tweeted to say he was considering taking Tesla private at a share price of $420 (£326), with "funding secured". It later transpired he had not sufficiently secured financial backing for the deal, nor had he explored a transaction with Tesla's board of directors.
Musk, who also runs the space exploration firm SpaceX, continues to face a number of lawsuits and an investigation by the US markets regulator into whether the Tesla billionaire orchestrated the fiasco surrounding the transaction in a bid to hurt short-sellers.