Tech billionaire — and noted Twitter hothead — Elon Musk wrote yet another surprising tweet on Wednesday: an apology. Musk had come under fire earlier this week after he nonchalantly referred to one of the British rescuers involved in the Thai cave rescue as a “pedo guy” — implying that he was a pedophile. Despite the immediate outcry, Musk initially refused to back off his comments. The subject of Musk’s tweet, Vernon Unsworth, had slammed the tech leader’s efforts to aid in the cave rescue by building a miniature submarine, calling it a “PR stunt” in an interview with CNN. In response, Musk launched his unfounded attack. “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 wrote on Wednesday, after lightly disparaging Unsworth once more. 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 Musk typically lashes out on Twitter without any retraction. (One of his recurring targets is the media, which he has repeatedly blasted for unflattering reports about Tesla.) But his “pedo” comment was widely considered shocking, even for him. The saga started with what seemed like a promising philanthropic effort: After 12 young soccer players became trapped in a cave in Thailand, Musk offered up the help of engineers from SpaceX and the Boring Company. He also deployed experts from Tesla to help design a pod that could be used to transport members of the soccer team who were stranded. The boys were eventually rescued in a massive international rescue operation with divers carrying them through the cave on stretchers — a mission that did not end up using Musk’s submarine. While many lauded Musk’s efforts, a fair share of people (including Unsworth) mocked his attempts to involve himself in the rescue at all. This back-and-forth ultimately culminated in one of Musk’s Twitter rants, with a slew of insults slung at any who dare impugn his work. Musk’s critics have seized on the latest Twitter attacks as yet another sign of his thin-skinned nature and rash temperament — something he has said he’s working on. As his recent remarks indicate, that effort might still be a work in progress. Here’s how it all unfolded. July 4: Musk wonders if he can help with the Thai cave rescue effort About a week after the Thai soccer team disappeared into the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system, Musk wrote a tweet asking if he could aid in the rescue in some way. I suspect that the Thai govt has this under control, but I’m happy to help if there is a way to do so — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2018 “I suspect that the Thai govt has this under control,” he tweeted — which did, in fact, turn out to be the case — but the tweet showed Musk was considering trying to intervene. July 6: Musk sends engineers to Thailand Two days later, Musk posted about sending other experts to help with other on-the-ground needs at the rescue site. Some of the technologies he tweeted about included drills, water pumps, and battery packs. SpaceX & Boring Co engineers headed to Thailand tomorrow to see if we can be helpful to govt. There are probably many complexities that are hard to appreciate without being there in person. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 6, 2018 It’s unclear whether these efforts were utilized during the rescue, but Musk’s tweets suggest that the engineers were on hand to provide other logistical help as well. A SpaceX spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. July 7: Musk tweets about building “kid-size submarine” Got more great feedback from Thailand. Primary path is basically a tiny, kid-size submarine using the liquid oxygen transfer tube of Falcon rocket as hull. Light enough to be carried by 2 divers, small enough to get through narrow gaps. Extremely robust. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018 Musk then noted that he was “iterating” with Thai cave experts to determine the optimal design for some sort of “escape pod.” Following these conversations, he landed on the idea of using a “kid-size submarine” that could potentially help shuttle the trapped Thai boys to safety. Some wondered whether Musk would be able to complete the project in time to contribute to the rescue, given the extreme pressure the team was facing from impending rains. He appeared to think he could — but suggested that the submarine might also be relevant for future endeavors if it didn’t play a role in the team’s efforts this time around. Construction complete in about 8 hours, then 17 hour flight to Thailand — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2018 Mini-sub arriving in about 17 hours. Hopefully useful. If not, perhaps it will be in a future situation. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 8, 2018 He also offered a glimpse of the submarine getting tested in a California swimming pool. Simulating maneuvering through a narrow passage pic.twitter.com/2z01Ut3vxJ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2018 July 9: Musk reports from Thailand Just returned from Cave 3. Mini-sub is ready if needed. It is made of rocket parts & named Wild Boar after kids’ soccer team. Leaving here in case it may be useful in the future. Thailand is so beautiful. pic.twitter.com/EHNh8ydaTT — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2018 Roughly a day later, Musk offered another Twitter dispatch after visiting “Cave 3,” and said he would be leaving the “mini-sub” in Thailand in case it could be useful down the line. As one Thailand-based translator tweeted a few days later, the Thai Navy did huddle with SpaceX engineers to discuss future applications of Musk’s technology. Just got back from Cave 3 A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Jul 9, 2018 at 2:43pm PDT July 10: All 12 Thai players are rescued — without Musk’s submarine<doc-sep>Elon Musk pointing at someone or something else. Photo : Mark Brake ( Getty Images ) Elon Musk probably hopes the matter of him baselessly smearing one of the divers who helped rescue a Thai soccer team from a flooded cave complex as a “pedo guy” is resolved with his issuance of a half-assed apology on Wednesday. However, the question of whether he will face a lawsuit lingers on—as does the mess resulting from his other, somewhat less high-profile Twitter controversy of the last week. Advertisement As heat mounted on @elonmusk for a $38,900 donation he gave to a pro-Republican PAC last quarter this weekend, he apparently asked environmental advocacy group the Sierra Club for a favor: Can you make my anonymous $6 million-plus donations no longer anonymous? Per Bloomberg, which obtained an email from Sierra Club executive Michael Brune to staff, Musk made the appeal in the form of a phone call in which he asked if Brune could personally vouch for him on Twitter. Brune did, and it apparently did not go well. Bloomberg writes: Brune is now dealing with blow-back within his own organization for complying with Musk’s requests. Two posts from his personal account and one sent from the Sierra Club’s Twitter handle that were laudatory of Tesla’s chief executive officer and his commitment to fighting climate change rankled some Sierra Club staff. They objected to Brune’s defense of an executive who funds Republicans and has bashed the United Auto Workers. Here’s the tweets Brune sent from his personal account: Here is the one from the Sierra Club, which was just as forthright in dismissing concerns that Musk’s donations indicated a lack of commitment to climate issues: Advertisement In his email to staff, Bloomberg wrote, Brune said that he would have granted the request to make a previously anonymous donation public to any donor. He also said he took seriously concerns from staff who felt that praising Musk—who has reportedly long resisted United Auto Workers unionization attempts at Tesla’s Fremont, California production plant—was a bad look given Brune is a co-chair of the BlueGreen alliance partnership between unions and environmental groups. Bloomberg writes: “I appreciate the concerns that I’ve seen online and in email that the tweets may be at odds with our support for workers’ rights and defeating the GOP agenda across the country,” Brune wrote in the email to his staff on Tuesday. “I don’t agree, but I see the risk and understand the concerns. Musk has made unhelpful anti-union statements and Tesla’s labor practices are also cause for concern, so I take your comments seriously.” Advertisement Given that the Environmental Protection Agency is currently run by former fossil-fuel lobbyists and Donald Trump’s White House has gleefully taken the hacksaw to virtually all federal climate change mitigation and preparation efforts, the Sierra Club probably has better things to do than get bogged down in a Musk tweet controversy. Similarly, Musk probably had better things to do (like ensuring his Tesla plant stays out of “manufacturing hell”) than create one. But hey, here we are. [Bloomberg]<doc-sep>Tesla’s Elon Musk has been tweeting as if he’s as high as one of his SpaceX rockets. Wall Street analysts, regulators and the media have all been recent victims of the eccentric billionaire. But his calling a member of the team rescuing the Thai soccer kids a “pedo” did more than raise eyebrows. The July 15 tweet prompted an open letter from Loup Ventures’ Gene Munster, who described Musk’s behavior as “fueling an unhelpful perception of your leadership — thin-skinned and short-tempered.” The Munster letter on July 17 wasn’t the only red flag raised about Musk. That, we look back in time, goes to:<doc-sep>Photo : Getty On Sunday, Elon Musk’s long-simmering internet meltdown reached a full boil when he called a man who was mean to his submarine a pedophile. This gave the Tesla founder’s harshest critics and fiercest fanboys something they could finally agree on: the guy needed to give it a rest and log off. A Twitter sabbatical, basically everyone concluded, was in his best interests. It is not, however, in ours. If anything, Musk should pour himself a frothy mug of genius juice, fire up the take machine, and tweet more—a lot more. Advertisement Let me explain. While the immediate stupefying effects of Musk’s worst tweets are now obvious, over time they serve to illuminate an important, larger truth: The captains of industry we venerate for their perceived brilliance are often huge dumbasses when it comes to anything other than accumulating a lot of money and turning it into more. Time and time again, ignorance of this key fact has proved disastrous for the American people. Public acts of self-dick-stepping might be the only way to dispel the myth of the benevolent rich genius for good. For Musk, the candid display of his entire ass led to a minor “correction” of Tesla stock, which dropped nearly three percent on Monday. Other Silicon Valley figures have faced similar consequences for saying what they really think online. The strongest reactions to Reddit’s standing policy of not policing hate speech, for instance, have stemmed from CEO Steve Huffman’s half-baked, off-the-cuff explanations to other users on the site. Similarly, influential tech investor Marc Andreessen (whom we once called “The Internet Icon You’ve Probably Never Heard Of”) made his biggest splash outside the business press with hot Twitter takes on subjects like whether opposing colonialism is good or dumb. In the end, the Facebook board member took a “Twitter break” in 2016 that lasted for months, and he’s significantly cut back on tweeting since. We are all the poorer for it. Admittedly, there are aspects of bad Elon Musk tweets that don’t serve the public good. When they’re directed at a single person, they can inspire harassment by his legions of Ricks and Mortys, and by embarrassing Musk, they can hurt legitimate causes he has thrown his weight behind. If Musk were just a random jabroni, I’d agree that he (like most people) should not post on the bad website. He is not, however, a random jabroni. He’s a billionaire 20 times over, one the most powerful unelected individuals on Earth. If Musk stopped tweeting tomorrow, that influence might wane slightly, but most of it would still be there, operating in the kind of secrecy that the whims of the super-rich traditionally have. And without the clarifying effect of repeated social media fiascos, it would be easy to mistake Musk for what his peers are often regarded as: chill people who must have all the answers or else how would they be so loaded. In an ideal world, not only would Elon Musk tweet more, but so would other titans of Silicon Valley. Imagine a world where Jeff Bezos offers real talk about Amazon and labor rights at 3 a.m. One where Mark Zuckerberg gets messy on the timeline with a Facebook user who was dumb enough to share their data with him. Maybe you’d endorse some of those outbursts. Maybe you think Musk used the term “pedo guy” to mean “man child or pedestrian,” too. That’s your right, I guess. But if so, wouldn’t we better off with more remarkable insights like these from the big, rich smartypantses that otherwise silently shape our world?<doc-sep>
Photo : Getty Elon Musk has been pretty quiet on Twitter ever since he called one of the cave divers in Thailand a pedophile. He deleted the tweets, but the diver, Vernon Unsworth, said he was considering legal action for the unfounded claims. But now Musk has apologized. Sort of. Musk’s half-hearted apology came in the form of a response to another person’s tweet. That tweet defends Musk’s actions in Thailand and claims that “journalism is dead.” The tweet also links out to a Quora post that describes media coverage of Musk as a “fake news” conspiracy. Musk’s half-assed apology starts by explaining that his words were “spoken in anger” because Unsworth had “said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub.” Unsworth had angered Musk by saying that the billionaire’s mini-sub was a “PR stunt” and had “no chance of working.” Unsworth told media outlets that Musk can “stick his submarine where it hurts.” Musk went on to say that he built the mini-sub “as an act of kindness,” and that his sub met with specifications from the dive team leader. However, many experts on the ground suggested that Musk’s solution was rather ridiculous. In a second tweet, Musk said that “his actions against me do not justify my actions against him” and apologized to Unsworth. In the same sentence he also apologized “to the companies I represent as leader.” Musk finished his apology by saying that “the fault is mine and mine alone.” Why would Musk apologize to the companies that he runs, like SpaceX and Tesla? Probably because his tweets sparked a massive sell-off in shares of his car company. Tesla dipped three percent on Monday after Musk’s initial tweets that baselessly accused Unsworth of being a pedophile. Musk had used the term “pedo guy” and had doubled down on the accusation after multiple people online had told him to chill out. It’s unclear if Unworth will still follow through on a lawsuit, nor is it clear if Musk has actually apologized to Unsworth personally. What is clear is that Musk has virtually nothing to gain and everything to lose by spending his time on Twitter. If he knew what was good for him he’d sign off forever. But he clearly gets something out of Twitter that he can’t get anywhere else. Is it constant adulation from fans who come to his defense no matter how stupid he acts? We can only speculate at this point. But yes. Definitely, 100 percent, yes.