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Teenager Sues Media Outlets for Making Fun of His Mullet

A teen’s unique mullet was turned into a meme — and he’s not happy about it. (Photo: Getty Images)
A teen’s unique mullet was turned into a meme — and he’s not happy about it. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ali Mosslmani’s mullet is not here for your entertainment, people.

The Australian teenager’s hairdo recently inspired a series of memes — and he’s not happy about it. Apparently, this isn’t the type of attention he was going for when he got such a bold haircut.

The ’do is shaved on the sides and top, with long, luscious hair in the back. The photo was taken at an 18th birthday party. It blew up over the summer, receiving more than 11,415 comments, almost 10,000 likes, and more than 1.7 million views within one week.

Ali Mosslmani and his mullet. (Photo: Jeremy Nool/Jnoodles Photography)
Ali Mosslmani and his mullet. (Photo: Jeremy Nool/Jnoodles Photography)

One image poking fun of the look shows people using Mosslmani’s head for a game of pin the tail on the donkey. Another meme turned him into the star of the movie Joe Dirt. He’s also been placed on the dollar bill and the Australian 20-cent coin. And there’s a My Little Pony ad featuring multiple Mosslmani heads.

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A handful of publications jumped on the bandwagon, but the butt of the joke is not laughing.

Mosslmani, known as “Ziggy,” filed defamation suits against the Daily Mail, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and the Australian Radio Network for publishing the photograph and making fun of his unique haircut, according to Mashable.

Ziggy is claiming the outlets defamed him through a series of memes, Photoshopping “pictures of the plaintiff … on Mount Rushmore, on a dollar bill, as ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ and as a horse,” according to the legal records.

He says that coverage from the three outlets were defamatory by implying that he was a “ridiculous person” whose haircut was “controversial,” “silly,” and “hideously ugly.” Ouch.

To be honest, we commend him for reinventing the mullet. However, pushing the boundaries of fashion often comes with attention, and we think he should own his hair fame.

The judge basically agreed that these silly memes shouldn’t get him down. “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 [digitally added to the plaintiff’s head] in one of the memes,” Judge Judith Gibson said, according to Mashable. “The closest any such picture gets to suggesting there is anything unattractive (as opposed to ridiculous) in the plaintiff’s appearance is the photograph where a skunk has been added to the plaintiff’s head.” We seriously wonder how she described those memes with a straight face.

The next preliminary hearing for the case will take place Nov. 17.

The best part of this whole ordeal is that there are now actual legal documents with the word “mullet” in them.

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