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Teen Sues Over Mullet-Mocking

From Cosmopolitan

Australian teenager Ali Ziggi Mosslmani (who goes by "Ziggy,"as you would) is suing a bunch of Aussie newspapers for mullet mockery, The Guardian reports.

In July 2015, "Ziggy" was photographed at an 18th birthday party in Sydney, Australia. The photograph quickly went viral, leading to memes that portrayed Ziggy and his mullet as a skunk, a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, and other unflattering things, Now, he is suing newspapers like Daily Mail Australia, the Daily Telegraph and also Aussie radio station KIIS for defaming his character by publishing said memes, an example of which is below with no judgments attached, thxvm:

Ziggy argues the articles defamed him and in particular was upset that he’d been called ugly. The publications listed as defendants, however, have hit back with hair-raisingly harsh responses to the suit, which include very real statements like:

In a preliminary judgment before the case goes to trial, District Court judge Judith Gibson dismissed a majority of Ziggy’s claims, saying, "The plaintiff’s striking mullet haircut has generated a great deal of interest on the internet, most of it humorous, and some of it in the form of clever observations, such as the ’Pythagoras’ direction in one of the memes." And she brought out some statistics: "the photograph has generated 11,415 comments, 10,000 likes and 1.7m views, which suggests that the hairstyle has its fans and opponents, but is not indicative of ugliness; to the contrary, 10,000 people pressed the ‘like’ button."

Gibson continued to argue that the only instance in which Ziggy’s appearance was maligned came with regards to the memes which saw his mullet photochopped as a skunk’s tail, and dismissed his claims that general discussion and #lulzchatter of the mullet constituted criticism of his appearance. She allowed his case to proceed only relating to headlines that labeled him a "ridiculous person" for getting the ’do, on the grounds of imputation. So, basically:

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