As directed by a California judge today, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk was questioned under oath over his claims about the company’s autopilot safety. While making a shocking defense in the lawsuit Tesla’s lawyers said the past statement on autopilot safety is deepfake.

“Elon Musk’s past statements about the capabilities of self-driving software cannot be trusted because they could be deep fake,” – Tesla’s lawyers.

In an interview in 2016, Elon Musk reportedly made some statements about the company’s autopilot safety. Then, he claimed that Tesla’s Model S and Model X, at this point, can drive autonomously with greater safety than a person.

Meanwhile, the genesis of lawsuits began when Huang died while driving a Tesla Model X, with attorneys for his family arguing Tesla Driver-assist software was at fault. The attorneys seek to interview Musk regarding the statements he made about the safety of this software. But Tesla’s lawyer said it is a deep fake.

Regardless Evette D. Pennypacker, the judge in the case said this argument by Tesla’s lawyers was deeply troubling, stating that:

“Their position is that because Mr. Musk is famous and might be more of a target for deep fakes, his public statements are immune,” wrote Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Evette D. Pennypacker.

The California judge further added: “In other words, Mr. Musk, and others in his position, can simply say whatever they like in the public domain, then hide behind the potential for their recorded statements being a deep fake to avoid taking ownership of what they did actually say and do.”

After Tesla’s lawyer’s argument, Musk was given a tentative three-hour deposition request from Judge Evette Pennypacker about these statements. According to Reuters, the judges make tentative rulings, which are virtually usually finalized with minimal significant revisions. However, a hearing is scheduled for Thursday to finalize the deposition and the lawsuit is set to go into trial on July 31.