{"id":17611,"date":"2024-02-15T10:35:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T09:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceoinfluencers.com\/?p=17611"},"modified":"2024-02-15T10:35:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T09:35:04","slug":"who-did-elon-musk-call-pedo-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceoinfluencers.com\/who-did-elon-musk-call-pedo-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Did Elon Musk Call Pedo Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elon Reeve Musk is a renowned South African-born American entrepreneur, investor, engineer and inventor. He is the founder, CEO and lead designer of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; and founder of The Boring Company. In addition, Musk is the co-founder and former chairman of SolarCity, co-founder of Zip2, and founder of X.com, which merged with Confinity and eventually became PayPal. Musk has repeatedly come under fire for various controversies, including calling a prominent British diver a “pedo guy” on Twitter in 2018.<\/p>\n

The controversy began after a series of Tweets from Musk on June 28, 2018, in which he called Vern Unsworth, a British diver and expert cave explorer, a “pedo guy”. Unsworth had recently been instrumental in rescuing 12 Thai boys and their coach from a cave in Thailand , and had criticized Musk’s suggestion that a submarine be used to aid in the rescue, saying it had “no chance of working.” Musk responded to the criticism with a tweet calling Unsworth a “pedo guy”.<\/p>\n

His comments sparked widespread criticism, with many calling the slur slanderous and ethically wrong. Musk responded to the criticism by deleting the Tweet and apologizing, saying he had been “angry” and “hasty.” He also said he “spoke [his] mind without thinking about the poison that might be spread.” While Musk has since apologized repeatedly and taken full responsibility for his actions, his transgression still drew scrutiny from many quarters. <\/p>\n

The controversy has raised questions about the way personal and corporate brands use social media to influence public opinion, and the ethical implications of these activities. Susan Hansen, a professor of communications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says “brands need to deploy their social media strategies with a heightened sense of responsibility and self-editing.” She adds that “companies need to be aware that the power of the internet is immense and a single tweet can spread an incredible amount of negative sentiment.”<\/p>\n