Elon Musk courts new controversy after tweeting, then deleting, an attack on a British cave explorer
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
- Elon Musk lashed out at a British cave explorer who blasted his idea to use a submarine to rescue a trapped Thai youth soccer team.
- After the explorer poured scorn on Musk's efforts, the billionaire lashed back on Twitter, but deleted those posts.
Elon Musk launched into a blistering Twitter tirade early Sunday against a British explorer who helped spearhead the rescue of a youth soccer team trapped in a Thailand cave — only to delete his posts after coming under withering criticism.
The flame war between Tesla's CEO and Vernon Unsworth, a spelunker who helped rescuers find the Thai soccer team, began after Unsworth made an appearance on CNN and criticized Musk's idea to use a miniature submarine.
Unsworth, a Thailand resident with years of cave exploration experience, was unsparing in his critique. He branded the billionaire's idea as little more than a "PR stunt" and that he could "stick his submarine where it hurts."
A submarine "had absolutely no chance of working," the explorer told CNN. Moreover, Musk "had no conception of what the cave passage was like," Unsworth said.
Apparently stung by the criticism, Musk defended his efforts by tearing into Unsworth in unusually harsh and personal tones on Twitter. He referred to the British national as a "pedo guy" — which drew widespread condemnation on social media.
By late Sunday, however, those tweets appeared to have been deleted, and Musk found himself hammered on all sides for taking on someone widely recognized as integral in the efforts to rescue the trapped boys.
A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately return CNBC's request for comment.
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What the hell? Aren't the problems at the Tesla Factory enough to keep this guy busy or is he just so stressed out he needs to unleash on someone, who, frankly, is a hero?
Musk seems to be losing it.......more and more of late......
I was scratching my head over this too. I seriously think Elon needs some quality sleep. Getting 20 winks on the floor beneath his desk at the factory isn't cutting it.
Elon's ego and feelings of superiority are taking a real beating lately, and his hope of reviving his brand with his little submarine which he deemed would make him an international hero in saving all the kids was a bust that he just can't get his big head around.
It is obvious that he had no real honest grasp of the situation in any rational or realistic view given the terrain that the cave presented for such a rescue as he tried to put forward. And obviously, he would not listen to those who tried to tell him so, but, insisted that what he deemed possible was in fact possible.
So now he is left with a mini sub that was useless and no International hero's praise.
Sorry....my sympathy button is out of order for that category.
So now he is left with a mini sub that was useless
China and Russia will probably steal the technology and use it to get spies into the US from submarines.
A good possibility. I shudder to think that one day I will find one of those subs laying in my toilet or bathtub.
Please.....please....not the toilet.....
Isn't it easier just to sneak across the southern border, like most everyone else?
Agreed. The thought does kind of hit home, as I once found a live rat in my toilet that apparently came up from the sewer. Killing it was a bit of a chore, but, the alternative was just not doable at the moment.
A couple million are from Asia. You guys rarely talk about them though. They’re not brown enough to worry about, I guess.
Morning...Yes this Musk guy is an absolute maggot...what we refer to here as a "septic tank as he is full of it"...Even our divers said the same about him..It was a publicly stunt and swimming around in a pool with a submarine in nothing like a cave system....The heroes are the people from all around the world that helped rescue the 13....no one here is saying the coach is a hero....Even the parents have stated they do not blame the coach at all and are just plain grateful he was able to keep the boys safe in the days they were stuck in there...I guess hind sight is a wonderful thing..But at the end of the day they are safe....and yes one soul was lost and that is something they will all have to come to terms with in their on way...But it is amazing when the countries around the world can come together and act as one...Just a pity it does not happen more often...and just maybe, we would not be in such a mess we are in today....I see Musk's company has lost 2 billion on the stock market..ain't karma a bitch....
Totally agree! And I agree with everything else you said, shona. Very well said and spot on!
That's a bit harsh, but this one instance is certainly inexplicable.