Los Angeles (AFP)

Elon Musk, founder of the companies Tesla and SpaceX, held Wednesday in court in Los Angeles where he is judged since yesterday that the tweet in which he called in July 2018 a speleologist British "dude pedo" was certainly insulting but did not constitute not a defamatory charge.

If the federal court finds him guilty of defamation, the billionaire could be sentenced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation to Vernon Unsworth, a 64-year-old Briton who complained.

The latter described as "publicity stunt" the sending by Elon Musk of a miniature submarine to help the rescue of 12 young footballers and their coach, trapped by the rise of water as they explored a cave Thai.

The youth remained stranded for two weeks before being evacuated after a large-scale international operation, to which the British speleologist had participated. The craft designed by Elon Musk and his teams had not been used.

In an interview with CNN, Unsworth also told Elon Musk that he could "put his submarine where it hurts", saying the craft was unsuitable.

The whimsical billionaire had not appreciated either the tone or the "erroneous statements" according to him, and he had replied on Twitter by using the term of "guy pedo" ("pedo guy") to designate Mr. Unsworth, who lives a part of the year in Thailand, and where his girlfriend comes from.

"Guy pedo, it's less serious than pedo, especially in the context that I used in the tweet," said Elon Musk Wednesday, at the end of his testimony in court. "This is obviously an insult, no one interpreted it as meaning that he was really pedophile," he defended himself, as sober in his responses as his outfit, dark suit and white shirt.

His lawyer, Alex Spiro, for his part stressed that Mr. Musk had never explicitly accused Mr. Unsworth of pedophile acts and that he had at no time named his name on Twitter.

Faced with the outcry provoked at the time by his comments on the social network, the boss had apologized to the speleologist and erased the messages in question.

On Tuesday, the 48-year-old billionaire reiterated his apology to Vernon Unsworth, saying he wanted to defend the work of his teams around the rescue operation, which he had tweeted extensively before, during and after his trip to Thailand. rescue team.

The whimsical businessman is often singled out for his pranks and unwanted tweets, which have already earned him trouble with the stock market authorities in the United States.

The end of the trial, during which Mr. Unsworth should also give his version of the facts, is expected by Friday.

© 2019 AFP