Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly continuing his attack against a British diver who helped in the rescue of a Thai boys' football team last month.
Musk had apologised in July after calling Vernon Unsworth – whose map of the cave system where the boys were trapped helped the authorities rescue them – a "paedophile" in a tweet.
However, he seems to have renewed the attacks, with BuzzFeed News reporting that the billionaire entrepreneur has continued his attacked against Unsworth, calling him a "child rapist" in emails exchanged with the news outlet.
'Stop defending child rapist'
Musk sent an email to BuzzFeed News prefacing it with "off the record", but the outlet disregarded it because such an agreement requires both parties to consent to it.
According to the BuzzFeed News report, Musk wrote: "I suggest that you call people you know in Thailand, find out what's actually going on and stop defending child rapists, you f**king a**hole."
He added: "He's an old, single white guy from England who's been travelling to or living in Thailand for 30-40 years, mostly Pattaya Beach, until moving to Chiang Rai for a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time."
Is Musk correct?
There have been several instances of paedophiles coming to third-world countries to abuse children.
For instance, just last year, Indian authorities arrested British national Murray Dennis Ward for allegedly sexually abusing three blind boys. Investigations revealed that he may have abused many more children.
However, Musk's anger seems to be stemming from Unsworth, questioning the utility of the small submarine he sent so the boys could be brought out one by one. The submarine was never used in the rescue.
A history of outbursts?
Musk's latest outburst adds to the mercurial temperament he has displayed in recent times.
Once hailed the poster boy of technology – Musk founded PayPal before founding Tesla, which makes only electric cars. Musk has run off his mouth a few too many times for comfort.
For example, Elon Musk announced last month that he was planning to take Tesla private – a decision that seemed to be unilateral in that even Tesla board members were blindsided by it.
The decision had to be scrapped after a board meeting, but since then questions have continued to be raised about his mental health. What with Tesla burning through cash with little to deliver of recent?
