Exactly.

In a legal context, the ruling is often on the basis of how "the average person" would interpret something, and not on the minutiae of what you think the exact semantics are. Given that, it's likely that "the average person" would interpret the CEO's remark as, to all intents and purposes, calling the OP an asshole.

This is why (a) it's a gamble "going legal", because the interpretation the judges make might not be what you expect, and (b) nitpicking like this is unhelpful and unconstructive.

You're playing semantics and it's making you look like a pedantic loser.

I know you won't take offense to this, because I never called you a pedantic loser.

Is this correct?

It is, especially in a legal framework, and it means I probably won't win if I sue you for writing that sentence. Do you have a point?

Ok, my mistake. But nobody's suing anybody for calling anybody an asshole here. What I actually said:

> Certainly don't start calling customers 'asshole's on the internet.

is not materially changed if I had not missed the edit window and instead said 'do not start saying your customers look like assholes on the internet'.

Basically just don't say 'asshole'.