In another sign of just how ridiculous the US justice system has become, Elon Musk’s lawyers are today defending the billionaire in a US District Court over a defamation suit by claiming the person he called a “child rapist” and accused of marrying a 12-year-old girl in Thailand is wrong to infer that the term “pedo guy” is meant to imply he is a pedophile.

A cave diver named Vernon Unsworth was engaged in aiding a youth soccer team that’d gotten stuck in a cave in Thailand last summer when Musk heard about the situation and decided to insert himself into it. In Musk’s defense, he felt like he might be able to help and said his “conscience” drove him to try. Unsworth questioned whether Musk’s help was needed – Musk doesn’t have any experience with the dangers of cave diving, Unsworth is an expert – this prompted the now-deleted tweet in the screenshot above. Unsworth has since sued Musk for defamation, claiming damages over the billionaire celebrity’s alleged insinuation that he sexually abuses children. According to a report from Slate: Musk apologized a couple of days after sending the “pedo guy” tweet:

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 18, 2018 But then, in what can only be described as a Muskian twist, Elon sent a series of ranting emails to Buzzfeed in August of 2018 explicitly calling Unsworth a “child rapist” who’d taken a preteen bride. Credit: Buzzfeed Now it appears we’re supposed to believe that Elon Musk, employing a random slur from his youth, called someone a “pedo guy” and then paid a private investigator to try and prove that person was in fact a pedophile, then called this person a “child rapist” in email exchanges with a global news outlet, but because he didn’t actually use the word “pedophile,” the target of such accusations has not been defamed. Sure, okay. Here’s some live footage of Musk’s defense team:

Elon Musk testifies he wasn t calling the person he accused of marrying a preteen a pedophile - 17Elon Musk testifies he wasn t calling the person he accused of marrying a preteen a pedophile - 4