Elon Musk To Face Trial Over "Pedo Guy" Tweet

(RTTNews) - A federal judge in California has rejected Elon Musk's motion to dismiss a lawsuit against him related to tweets calling a British rescue diver a "pedo guy."

The founder of luxury electric car maker Tesla Inc. (TSLA) was sued by Vernon Unsworth, the British diver Musk called a "pedo" in July. Unsworth sought $75,000 in compensation and an injunction against Musk to stop further allegations.

The federal court judge set a 22 October trial date.

Musk's lawyers asked the court to dismiss the case saying the comments were exaggerated and Twitter itself is "infamous for invective and hyperbole." In the filing, Musk's lawyers argued that he was defending himself and his companies on Twitter.

The controversy between Musk and Unsworth began when the diver called Musk's attempt to help rescue the school boys from the cave as a PR stunt. He also said that the "kid-size submarine," which Musk built for the rescue operation, "had absolutely no chance of working." He can "stick his submarine where it hurts," Unsworth said.

Musk later called him a "pedo guy" in a response tweet. However, he later apologized and said his "words were spoken in anger" when he called him a pedophile.

"As this well-written article suggests, my words were spoken in anger after Mr. Unsworth said several untruths & suggested I engage in a sexual act with the mini-sub, which had been built as an act of kindness & according to specifications from the dive team leader," Musk tweeted.