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Canary42 | 00:44 Sat 07th Dec 2019 | News
14 Answers
US Jury clears US citizen of defaming Brit. Now there's a surprise.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50695593
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In the USA the richer you are the more innocent you are ( ie Jacko ).
01:02 Sat 07th Dec 2019
'Mr Musk told the court this week the phrase "pedo guy" was common in South Africa, where he grew up'

apart from well, he would say that, wouldn't he? it's not reported what it's supposed to mean.

It's so common, it's not even listed in Wiki or other websites I've looked at concerning South African colloquia colloquism - oh fudge, slang words.
Billionaire found not guilty.

#JustSayingLike
In the USA the richer you are the more innocent you are ( ie Jacko ).
Elon Musk couldn't (or, most certainly, shouldn't) have been found to have defamed Vernon Unsworth by an English jury either.

If I refer to a fellow ABer as a "childmolesting, kitten-strangling, drunken, narcissistic sado-masochist" on this forum, that is most definitely NOT 'defamation', as defined by the Defamation Act 2013.

That's because the Act states "A statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant". Since the person I had referred to would be unlikely to go down in the opinion of his family, the people he works with, the people he socialises with or other AB members (who who almost certainly recognise that, while my post was offensive, it wasn't true), the test for 'defamation' would not have been passed. Making grossly offensive statements about someone is NOT the same as 'defamation'.

In an English court the onus would have been upon Mr Unsworth to show that his reputation had suffered serious harm (e.g. by showing that he'd lost work through people believing the accusation). If he couldn't produce such evidence, an action for defamation would automatically have been doomed to failure. Saying (or even proving) that Mr Musk's statement was untrue and/or that it was grossly offensive would be completely irrelevant.
I Googled the phrase and there were plenty hits but mainly from the case. There were also definitions but they were making fun of Musk.

I would have thought Musk's side would have been asked to provide evidence confirming how widespread the use of the phrase was when he was growing up.

Does the way the man in the street would interpret the phrase have any bearing I wonder? How many would think that "pedo (sic) man" did not mean a paedophile?
According to the Wikipedia article about defamation in the US-

"Statements are defamatory per se where they falsely impute to the plaintiff one or more of the following things:
...
Allegations or imputations of criminal activity (sometimes only crimes of moral turpitude)"

Saying someone is a paedophile sounds like an allegation or imputation of criminal activity to me.

It could boil down to whether Musk was using the phrase ONLY in the way he said was common in South Africa.

Is ignorance of the other interpretation a defence?
Oh well, it's all water under the ground now.
Worth knowing that one can makes any accusation and that's legally ok.
Obviously proving "serious" harm is unlikely so one can malign another's good name with impunity at any time and get away with it. Even worldwide.
I take on board chico's analysis above but sure this is defamation, surely Unsworth was affected by this.
If Musk thought he had done no wrong, why was he trying to look into Unsworth's background and why did he tweet,"Don't you think it's strange he hasn't sued me?"
So anyone can publicly and maliciously accuse someone else of being a paedophile with impunity?

It's wrong.
Agree Ludwig.

This was done in the public place, without doubt Unsworth has suffered damage to his reputation. No smoke without fire brigade etc.

But then, money buys Justice - and not just in the US
Dont know,dont care.There are(were)a few Brits out in Syria trying to kill British and US soldiers.Now over in America.Hopefully the Yanks will treat these terrorists with human kindness.Not.
Sorry.Wrong thread.

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