In Emails To ‘BuzzFeed,’ Elon Musk Accuses Thai Cave Rescuer Of Being A ‘Child Rapist’ With A ‘Child Bride’
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is apparently not done attacking British cave diver Vern Unsworth, who was cited as essential to the rescue of the youth soccer team and coach trapped in a flooded Thailand cave per CNN. Unsworth was critical of Musk’s submersible, which led Musk to call him a “pedo guy,” in a since deleted tweet that Musk apologized for later. Since that apology, Musk has attacked Unsworth two more times, both seemingly out of the blue, calling him a “pedophile,” a “child rapist,” and accusing him of having a child bride in a string of emails sent to BuzzFeed.
BuzzFeed had reached out to Musk for comments concerning his last attack on Unsworth, but what they got instead was a whole new attack. Musk prefaced his emails with “off the record” and “on background,” but BuzzFeed pointed out that if both parties do not agree to those terms, which they did not, then the information contained in them is fair game to report. Based on that common journalistic practice, BuzzFeed saw fit to share the contents of those emails publicly, and what those emails contain are a lot of unsupported allegations by Musk.
“I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what’s actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you f***ing a**hole. He’s an old, single white guy from England who’s been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time. As for this alleged threat of a lawsuit, which magically appeared when I raised the issue (nothing was sent or raised beforehand), I f***ing hope he sues me.”
BREAKING: Elon Musk has renewed his attacks against one of the Thailand soccer team cave rescuers, accusing him of being a “child rapist”https://t.co/YT8qXggdxy
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) September 4, 2018
BuzzFeed stated they have no idea why Musk said any of that, and he did not provide any proof to support any of those allegations against Unsworth. They also reported that they could find no legal problems of any kind involving Unsworth in the U.K. A Thai immigration official named Ploy Pailin said that although they do not perform background checks on people traveling on a visa, if Unsworth had been convicted of anything, or even investigated of the type of allegations made by Musk, he would not be given a visa.
Someone they did locate is Unsworth’s Thai girlfriend, Woranan Ratrawiphukkun, who although younger than he is, is still 40 years old. They began dating when she was 33, and there is a long history of their romance documented online, primarily on Facebook. That is a long way from being a child bride as Musk alleged, in any country or culture.
Musk then alleged that Unsworth was kicked off the dive site and that he never saw him there. Photographic evidence and dozens of eyewitnesses have refuted that claim by Musk numerous times. Everyone from doctors on the scene, to the Thai SEALS he went to chamber three with, to the Thai prime minister have said Musk is wrong, per News.com.au.
Representatives from Tesla have not commented on this latest attack on Unsworth, and instead referred the press to their previous statement of support for him. Unsworth has not commented, but his attorney has acknowledged seeing the emails and said little more. Musk has not commented, but it seems possible he may say something again as news of his emails being shared hits critical mass.
