Apologise

Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk apologized Wednesday to a British diver who was involved in the Thai cave rescue for calling him “pedo guy.”
Musk lashed out at Vern Unsworth on Twitter on Saturday after Unsworth criticized a mini-submarine sent by Musk to help assist in the rescue of the 12 boys and their coach who were trapped in a flooded cave in northern Thailand for more than two weeks. Tesla shares fell following Musk’s attack. Unsworth said he was considering taking legal action against Musk.


 Musk tweeted Wednesday that “his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.”


The Wild Boars youth soccer team and their 25-year-old coach were trapped in the Tham Luang cave complex on June 23 by flooding after they went exploring there following a game. Divers found them after 10 days and the last team members were freed by an international team of rescuers on July 10, 17 days after they went missing. A former Thai navy diver died during the rescue operation.
Musk made the defamatory tweet after Unsworth called his submarine "a PR stunt” in an interview with CNN.
"He can stick his submarine where it hurts," Unsworth said. "It just had absolutely no chance of working.”
More: 'We’re going to eat fried chicken at KFC': Classmates, teachers await return of boys trapped in Thai cave
Musk responded: "We will make one of the mini-sub/pod going all the way to Cave 5 no problemo. Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it." The tweet was later deleted.
The boys are expected to be released from the hospital where they have been recovering in the city of Chiang Rai on Wednesday, before they take part in a news conference with their coach in the evening.


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Tesla Inc. founder Elon Musk apologized to British caver Vern Unsworth for comments he made about him following the rescue of a dozen Thai schoolboys and their football coach from a cave in northern Thailand.
“His actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader,” Musk said in a tweet. “The fault is mine and mine alone.”
Unsworth, who played a leading role in the rescue, said on Tuesday that he has been approached by British and American lawyers and will seek legal advice after Musk directed abuse at him on Twitter.

Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.

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Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has apologised to a British cave diver he called "pedo guy" in a row over the cave rescue in Thailand.

He said he had "spoken in anger" after Vern Unsworth ridiculed a mini-submarine he had commissioned for the rescue effort as a "PR stunt".
"His actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologise," Mr Musk said.
Mr Unsworth told reporters on Monday he was considering legal action.

Twelve boys and their football coach were rescued from deep within a cave earlier this month after being trapped for more than two weeks.
Mr Unsworth's knowledge of the cave complex is said to have played a key role in the rescue effort.
He travelled into the caves in the first days after the boys went missing and helped bring in top international cave rescue experts for the mission.
Mr Musk, head of the SpaceX and Tesla companies, visited the command centre in Thailand during the rescue, announcing he had left the rescuers a mini-submarine.

What did Musk say?

In a reply to another user on Twitter on Wednesday, referring to an article about his involvement in the rescue mission, he wrote that he was apologising to both Mr Unsworth and the companies he led.
"The fault is mine and mine alone," he declared.
At the same time, he accused Mr Unsworth of telling "untruths" about his mini-submarine, which was not used in the rescue.

As this well-written article suggests, my words were spoken in anger after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2018

Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2018

How did the row erupt?

Mr Unsworth had said the mini-sub would have had "absolutely no chance of working" - and suggested Mr Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts".
The entrepreneur fired back with a now deleted tweet where, without using Mr Unsworth's name, he referred to a "British expat guy who lives in Thailand".
He said he would make a video showing the mini-sub making it deep inside the cave "no problemo", adding, "Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it."



The tweets, sent to his more than 22 million followers, were later deleted.
Asked if he would take legal action against Mr Musk, Mr Unsworth told AFP news agency: "If it's what I think it is yes."
No charges or complaints had ever been filed against Mr Unsworth, Reuters news agency quoted an unnamed police officer in the Chiang Rai area as saying.
Separately, Mr Musk attacked the Thai official in charge of the command centre, Narongsak Osotthanakorn, for saying the mini-sub had been "not practical", though "technologically sophisticated".
Mr Musk said Mr Osotthanakorn had been "described inaccurately as 'rescue chief'" and was "not the subject matter expert".
He also tweeted an earlier email from Richard Stanton - one of two British caving experts called in to front the rescue - who had urged the business leader to build the capsule as quickly as possible.


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Elon Musk has apologised to the British cave diver he labelled "pedo guy".
Mr Musk suggested that he was still hurt after the diver, Vern Unsworth, had mocked him over his attempt to build a tiny submarine to bring the boys out of the cave. But he said that did not excuse the bizarre and angry insults he launched at the diver in the wake of the rescue.
The SpaceX and Tesla boss said that he apologised to his own companies as well as to the diver for the tweets.

The bitter fallout between the pair began when Mr Musk travelled to the Tham Luang caverns in Chiang Rai, while the rescue operation to save the Thai boys was still ongoing. He presented rescue workers with a specially built "kid-sized" submarine that he claimed would allow the children to be saved.

 But the plan was rejected by the chief of the rescue mission, who described it as "not practical". Mr Musk then attacked Narongsak Osatanakorn over the comment, saying he did not have the expertise to decide.


After that, cave diver Vern Unsworth – who was central to the discovery and rescue of the Thai boys – said in an interview that Mr Musk's submarine was just a "PR stunt", and that it "had absolutely no chance of working" because the billionaire "had no conception of what the cave passage was like". He said Mr Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts".
Mr Musk then attacked Mr Unsworth on his Twitter page, claimed it was suspect that Mr Unsworth lived in Thailand, labelled him "pedo guy" apparently without any grounds at all and suggested that the diver had invited the attack on himself
Now the Tesla founder has said that the bizarre tweets were posted because he was hurt by Mr Unsworth's jokes. But he admitted that the attacks were wrong and apologised both to the diver and to his companies.
"My words were spoken in anger after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader," he wrote on Twitter.

"Nonetheless, his actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologize to Mr. Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader," he continued. "The fault is mine and mine alone."
Mr Musk had initially doubled down on the tweets, despite intense criticism. "Bet ya a signed dollar it's true," he wrote to one user who questioned him over the posts.
But soon after they went up, Mr Musk deleted the tweets and then went completely silent. But shareholders in Tesla had demanded he apologise, arguing that the posts could undermine the work of the company.

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Elon Musk apologized to the British cave diver who was the subject of a slew of insults following last week’s rescue of 12 boys and their coach from a Thai cave. 

Musk said his comments against Vernon Unsworth, which included the use of the term “pedo,” were said in anger “after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub.”

“The fault is mine and mine alone,” Musk said. 

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO had engineers build a mini-submarine to be used to extract the boys since they didn’t know how to swim. The head of the rescue mission Narongsak Osottanakorn declined the offer for assistance, calling Musk’s technology “not practical.”

Professional rescuers ultimately got the boys out using stretchers but Musk decided to leave the sub in Thailand “in case it may be useful in the future.”

Musk’s ire likely stemmed from an interview Unsworth did with CNN during which Unsworth criticized Musk’s idea, calling it “just a PR stunt.”

“He can stick his submarine where it hurts,” Unsworth said. “It just had absolutely no chance of working. He had no conception of what the cave passage was like.”

Tesla investors had requested that Musk apologize. James Anderson, a partner at Baillie Gifford, Tesla’s fourth-largest shareholder, told the Guardian that it was “frustrated that the real steps towards this are being overshadowed and undermined by this saga.”

Loup Ventures, a venture capital firm, also published an open letter calling upon Musk to apologize.

“The exchange with Vern Unsworth crossed the line,” said the letter, written by managing partner Gene Munster. “I suspect you would agree given you deleted the string from Twitter, but it will take more than that to regain investor confidence. Your behavior is fueling an unhelpful perception of your leadership – thin-skinned and short-tempered. Thankfully, the road to regaining investor confidence is well traveled. It starts with an apology.”

Elon Musk has issued an apology for his remarks about a UK diver involved in the rescue of the Thai soccer team and their coach after he called Vern Unsworth a "pedo" on social media.

Key points:

• Elon Musk said the words were spoken in anger
• Mr Unsworth told reports that he was considering legal action over the comments
• The tech billionaire made the "pedo" comment in response to the diver's claim that Mr Musk's rescue submarine was a PR stunt

"I apologise to Mr Unsworth and to the companies I represent as leader. The fault is mine and mine alone," he tweeted.
"My words were spoken in anger after Mr Unsworth said several untruths and suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub."
Mr Musk wrote a series of tweets attacking Mr Unsworth, with one saying the expat living in Thailand was "sus".
He then wrote: "Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it".
Mr Unsworth is reportedly aware Mr Musk has apologised but would not comment further about settlement or legal action.
Mr Unsworth told reporters on Monday he was considering legal action.
"His actions against me do not justify my actions against him, and for that I apologise," Mr Musk said.