Elon Musk really needs to stick to making electric cars and solar power systems after getting caught escalating his attacks on the British diver who helped rescue a group of Thai children from a flooded cave.

Two months ago, Mr. Musk first called the diver Vernon Unsworth a "pedo" in a tweet that appeared to be a reaction to Unsworth belittling the miniature submarine that the Tesla boss brought to Thailand in hopes of using it in the rescue - it wasn't an Unsworth suggested that Musk was grandstanding and getting in the way.  Musk faced some backlash, apologized, and the two seemed to back down.

But in an email to tech journalist Ryan Mac of BuzzFeed News, Elon Musk accused Unsworth of being a "single white guy from England who's been traveling to or living in Thailand for 30 to 40 years", eventually moving to Chiang Rai to hook up with "a child bride who was about 12 years old at the time".  Musk also claimed Chiang rai was "renowned for child sex-trafficking". 

Musk said his comments were off the record, but didn't wait for the journalist to agree to that.  And Mac didn't.  Not only are Musk's accusations now a matter of public record, but he offered them without any proof.  So Buzzfeed did its own investigation and found that the UK has no criminal record for Mr. Unsworth, and his "child bride" is a woman of 40.

Well, that's about the worst accusation one could make about another, especially while presenting absolutely no evidence.  Unsworth already threatened to sue the billionaire over this, and he is now moving forward with a lawsuit.  His lawyer told The Guardian newspaper, "Elon Musk's campaign of publishing vile and false accusations against Mr. Unsworth is inexcusable.  Musk hopes to be sued and he deserves to be sued.  He will be."

This is the latest in a string of outbursts that has markets and investors questioning Musk's fitness to run companies which prior to this year were considered ground-breaking tech icons that could usher in the future.  In recent weeks, he openly flirted with taking Tesla private with Saudi money in a way that has attracted the attention of US regulators who are investigating the possibility of stock manipulation.  In June and August, he put out disturbing tweets about using the insomnia drug Ambien.  Musk was criticized after slamming analysts on an earnings call in the spring, saying they should stop asking "boring, bonehead questions".  And earlier this year, Tesla's credit rating was downgraded to negative because of slow production of the Model 3 electric car.