--- title: Elon Musk: How the Billionaire Became a Cautionary Tale description: As the Tesla CEO feuds with a man who helped rescue the Thai soccer team, it's worth wondering what's up with the once lovable tech titan canonical: https://time.com/5339646/elon-musk-thai-rescue-diver-lawsuit-tweet/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-16T20:13:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:34:34.604Z article:section: Ideas og:title: What’s Going on With Elon Musk? og:description: How the happy billionaire rocket scientist became a cautionary tale og:url: https://time.com/5339646/elon-musk-thai-rescue-diver-lawsuit-tweet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f51fe2840182da3/6989357822fb851053e2628e/elon-musk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2018 Westworld panel at SXSW. Cast and showrunners provide an inside look at the award-winning Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What’s Going on With Elon Musk? twitter:description: How the happy billionaire rocket scientist became a cautionary tale twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f51fe2840182da3/6989357822fb851053e2628e/elon-musk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What’s Going on With Elon Musk? How the Happy Billionaire Rocket Scientist Became a Cautionary Tale > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3a19ecbb-0408-4a54-9354-f5a922154b85&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: What is Going on With Elon Musk? [Watch (HLS stream): What is Going on With Elon Musk?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/77M0BpAa.m3u8) (2:41)  _Published 2018-07-18. TIME's Jeffrey Kluger discusses how the happy billionaire rocket scientist became a cautionary tale._  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Jul 16, 2018 8:13 PM UTC  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Jul 16, 2018 8:13 PM UTC It ought to be fun being Elon Musk. You get to build rockets. You get to build cars. You get to be really, really famous and — not for nothing — really, really rich. It’s a sweet gig if you can get it, and Musk has got it. But Elon Musk does not appear to be having any fun at all lately. That’s not just because of [continued delays in the development of his Dragon spacecraft](https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/989190/SpaceX-launch-elon-musk-manned-crew-ISS-space-station-NASA-Boeing), which may not be ready to carry crews to the International Space Station until 2020, [three years behind schedule](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/16/nasa-boeing-spacex-contracts-manned-flights). And it’s not just because of [the two fatal accidents](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-31/tesla-says-driver-s-hands-weren-t-on-wheel-at-time-of-accident), in 2016 and 2018, involving people using the autonomous driving function in one of Musk’s Teslas. Those are setbacks — in the case of the Tesla deaths, tragic setbacks — that can be an unavoidable part of any big operation trying to do ambitious things. Musk’s problems lately are more about, well, Musk — a recent combativeness that has been coming in smackdowns and tweetstorms that threaten to turn the one-time wünderkind into just another media troll. The latest and easily most egregious case [involves his growing feud](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/asia/thai-cave-soccer-musk-rescuer-tweet-intl/index.html) with British diver Vern Unsworth, who played a key role in the recent [rescue of twelve boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand](http://time.com/5335453/thai-soccer-team-rescuers/). Shortly after the rescue efforts began, Musk stepped into the center of the surrounding media storm with offers to send drilling teams and a child-sized submarine to lend a hand in the work. That seemed [to a lot of people](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-news-musk-submarine-not-practical-cave-soccer-team-20180710-story.html) less like helping than headline-grabbing, a [FOMO](http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2015/09/30/fomo%5Fwhat%5Fs%5Fthe%5Fpsychology%5Fbehind%5Fthe%5Ffear%5Fof%5Fmissing%5Fout.html)\-fueled need to insert himself into a drama that had nothing to do with him — especially since what Musk was offering was of uncertain worth, while what was on-site already were rescuers and first responders who do this kind of work for a living. Things turned personal when Unsworth dismissed Musk’s efforts as a PR stunt and told to “stick his submarine where it hurts.” Musk answered that schoolyard tweak with a nuclear tweet, [labeling Unsworth a “pedo](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/asia/thai-cave-soccer-musk-rescuer-tweet-intl/index.html),” presumably a pedophile, and responding “Bet ya a signed dollar it’s true,” when his followers objected. Both tweets were quickly deleted, though not fast enough to stop Unsworth from announcing that he is pursuing legal action. Whatever the prospects for any lawsuit, Musk lost big in the public-opinion courtroom. The man in the wetsuit who goes into a cave beats the man in the business suit who owns a big company — and that ought to have been axiomatic to someone as media-savvy as Musk. This followed another public dust-up in May, when Musk, responding to negative coverage of Tesla’s production and design woes, [tweeted out his criticism](https://www.vox.com/2018/5/24/17389388/elon-musk-twitter-pravda) of the “holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies” that publish only enough truth “to sugar-coat the lie.” He [then announced that he was launching a website](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/05/24/pravda-elon-musks-solution-for-punishing-journalists/?utm%5Fterm=.da1b720b1d6b) to fact-check the news — allowing users to weigh in on whether or not a story is true. The comparisons to President Donald Trump’s repeated cries of “fake news” were unavoidable. Musk, like Trump, long benefited from the sugar high of an uncritical media: with Trump, it was the saturation coverage of his rallies in 2016; with Musk, it’s been the fawning [comparisons to Tony Stark](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/09/elon-musk-the-real-life-iron-man) and the often-credulous coverage of his giddy promises — to send two paying passengers around the moon this year or to have human beings on Mars by 2024\. (TIME covered both stories [here](http://time.com/4685387/spacex-elon-musk-moon/) and [here](http://time.com/4962416/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-2024/).) And like Trump too, Musk seems to need to hit back hard when the questions get tougher and the coverage gets less favorable. The comparisons between the two men clearly have limits. Trump was always a social media provocateur, saying the outrageous thing, giving voice to the dark idea; the fury that he elicited was a feature, not a bug. Musk was a defter, decidedly happier media figure. When he was making his first attempt to land a rocket upright, he [memorably tweeted](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/04/17/even-elon-musk-knows-hes-a-good-supervillain-candidate/?utm%5Fterm=.696d4c9535a5), “If this works, I’m treating myself to a volcano lair. It’s time.” When those landing attempts repeatedly failed, he posted a video [compilation of the crashes](https://www.instagram.com/p/BZA0s7EAmF1/?taken-by=elonmusk) on his own Instagram account, set to a _Monty Python_ soundtrack. Those were the posts of a person who is, or was, equal parts self-aware and deeply secure, which makes Musk’s current descent into petulance and defensiveness especially head-snapping. Still, that kind of public self-immolation is hardly unique to him. Many an entrepreneur, performer or politician has displayed it after the spotlight they’ve been enjoying turns to someone else or the one that is still shining on them is, for the first time, showing their flaws. If that’s what’s happening to Musk — if he feels the heat and shows the ugly — then there will likely be more of his angry performance art to come. He picked a hard business — a hard bunch of businesses actually — and none of them is going to get any easier. People, just like rockets, can crash and burn — and when that happens, there’s no funny soundtrack playing along. ## Transcript > Elon Musk used to a media darling. His rockets were hot, his cars were cool and his social media feed was full of wit, often poking fun at Musk himself. But the dialing is nor more. [ MUSIC ] Mask has faced a series of setbacks in his businesses including production delays in his dragon spacecraft and two fatal crashes in his Tesla electric cars and he has appeared increasingly thin- skinned Engaging in a series of tweet storms and smackdowns that threaten to turn him into just another media troll. The latest involves his ongoing feud with British diver Vern Unsworth, who played a key role in rescuing 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in Thailand. After Musk offered to send a drilling team and a mini submarine to assist in the work, he was roundly criticized on social media for meddling and for headline grabbing. Unsworth criticized his efforts as a PR stunt and told him to stick his submarine where it hurts. Musk responded to that school yard taunt With a nuclear tweet labeling Unsworth a pedo, presumably a pedophile, and adding, bet ya a signed dollar it's true. Both tweets were quickly deleted after objections from Musk's followers, but not fast enough to prevent Unsworth From threatening legal action. I think people realize what sort of a guy he his. Would you consider taking legal action against him? Yes, yes. It's not finished. Musk has since apologized for his tweets. [ MUSIC ] This followed another dust up in May when Musk tweeted out criticism of the media following negative coverage of his Tesla production woes. He announced he was launching a website to fact check the news. Allowing users to weigh in on whether a story is true or not. He didn't say fake news, but it was close. Many entrepreneurs, performers and politicians have displayed this kind of behavior when the spotlight that's been shining on them turns to someone else Or the one that's still there starts showing their flaws. People, just like rockets, can crash and burn. And either way, it's never pretty. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5339646/elon-musk-thai-rescue-diver-lawsuit-tweet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5339646/elon-musk-thai-rescue-diver-lawsuit-tweet/"},"headline":"What’s Going on With Elon Musk? 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