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Los Angeles \u2014 Elon Musk is going on trial Tuesday for his troublesome tweets in a defamation case pitting the billionaire against a British diver he allegedly branded a pedophile.<\/p>\n
The Tesla CEO will be called to testify early in the case in Los Angeles federal court to explain what he meant when he called Vernon Unsworth, who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped underwater in a Thailand cave, \u201cpedo guy\u201d in a Twitter spat more than year ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Musk later apologised for lashing out at Unsworth on Twitter after the diver belittled Musk\u2019s efforts to build a tiny submarine to save the trapped boys as a \u201cPR stunt.\u201d The tweet, widely interpreted as a reference to a pedophile, was removed by Musk, who disputed that\u2019s what he meant.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Pedo guy\u2019 was a common insult used in South Africa when I was growing up,\u201d Musk said in a court declaration. \u201cIt is synonymous with \u2018creepy old man\u2019 and is used to insult a person\u2019s appearance and demeanour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unsworth\u2019s lawyers have laughed off that explanation and said his claim was undercut by a subsequent tweet when he said, \u201cBet ya a signed dollar it\u2019s true\u201d in response to a question about whether he had accused Unsworth of being a pedophile.<\/p>\n