A Buzzfeed technology reporter is likely to face a deposition in a British caving expert's defamation lawsuit against Elon Musk—a lawsuit that has seen Buzzfeed's own reporting on Musk's remarks take center stage in the wake of the rescue of a Thai youth soccer team from a flooded cave last year.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley said Thursday that Buzzfeed journalist Ryan Mac would at least have to answer questions from lawyers for British caver Vernon Unsworth about whether he had any reporter-source relationship with Musk prior to the tech CEO sending him an email labeled "off the record."

Buzzfeed ultimately ran a story last year on the email where Musk called Unsworth a "child rapist" and a follow-up email Musk designated "on background" encouraging Mac to further look into Unsworth's past.

Corley said that Mac's testimony was likely relevant to Unsworth's defamation case and that verifying the emails and his lack of a prior relationship with Musk wouldn't seem to fall under privileges afforded to journalists anonymous sources and unpublished material under California state law.

Corley didn't issue a final ruling on the matter Thursday, but she did push back against a request from Musk's lawyer, Alex Spiro at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, to question Mac to bolster Musk's defense that he had a reasonable expectation that his emails would not be published. Spiro said at Thursday's hearing that, if allowed by the judge, he planned to ask Mac whether he was aware that Musk and his companies had previously had multiple other off-the-record interactions with Buzzfeed journalists that did not result in publication.

Corley, however, questioned the relevance of any evidence such questions might produce for Musk's defense.

"Your client didn't sue Mr. Mac," Corley said. "Mr. Mac's state of mind is not at issue."

Mac's lawyer, Katherine Bolger of Davis Wright Tremaine, noted that Musk has said in his deposition in the underlying defamation suit that he was "a fucking idiot" for sending Mac the emails.

Corley, however, warned the parties, who are set to go to trial in Los Angeles in December, about how the entire dispute would look to potential jurors. Musk lashed out at Unsworth on Twitter in July 2018 after both volunteered as part of the rescue of 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave. The caver gave a critical interview to CNN claiming that a submersible tube Musk and his team of engineers designed was a "PR stunt." Musk in a since-deleted Tweet called Unsworth a "pedo guy" and issued a public apology prior to his email exchange with Mac. Unsworth sued Musk last year with counsel from defamation specialist L. Lin Wood less than two weeks after Mac's story ran.

Corley said toward the end of Thursday's hearing that "everything about this case turns out to be stupid."

"People said things no one ever should have said," Corley said. "It's never too late to start over and to stop."

G. Taylor Wilson, one of Wood's partners who represents Unsworth, responded that Unsworth never asked to be called a "child rapist" who took a "child bride" by one of the most powerful CEOs in the world.

Corley, however, reiterated her thoughts about what the case would look like to jurors. "It looks to me like this fight between these two gentlemen when all that really mattered was the rescue of those kids," Corley said. "Wouldn't that be great if that's just the end."