Los Angeles:
Tesla co-founder Elon Musk was cleared of defamation on Friday by a jury in Los Angeles over a tweet in which he labeled a British caver "pedo guy".
The jury deliberated less than an hour before ruling in favor of Musk and clearing him of any liability in the high-profile case that pitted him against Vernon Unsworth. Unsworth had sought $190 million in damages from the tech billionaire.
The trial concerns a lawsuit filed by British caver-- who helped rescue youth soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand -- over the "pedo guy" tweet and other derogatory remarks Musk made against him.
Earlier, Musk had insisted that the tweet in which he described a British caver as "pedo guy" amounted to a flippant remark and did not mean he was accusing the man of pedophilia.
"Pedo guy is less significant than pedo. If you add guy to something, it's less serious," the 48-year-old tech billionaire had testified on the second day of his defamation trial in Los Angeles federal court. The July 2018 row between the two men erupted after Unsworth described the entrepreneur's proposal to build a mini-submarine to rescue the boys as a "PR stunt."
He also said that Musk could "stick his submarine where it hurts." Attorneys for both sides in court have been going over the meaning of the term "pedo guy," which Musk claims was a common insult in South Africa, where he grew up, and meant "creepy old man."
"Pedo guy is more flippant than pedo, especially in the context I used in the tweet," Musk told the court on Wednesday. "It's obviously an insult, no one interpreted it as meaning he was actually a pedophile." The trial, which began on Tuesday. Musk ended his testimony on Wednesday and Unsworth, who lives in Britain and Thailand, was also expected to be called as a witness. He is seeking unspecified damages for pain, suffering and emotional distress.
