Ali Ziggi Mosslmani, the Sydney teen suing a raft of publications for what he claims constituted ‘ridicule’ of his luxurious mullet, copped a fair bit of publicity earlier in the year when people caught sight of the somewhat humorous court documents relating to his case. Mosslmani’s case against Daily Mail Australia, The Daily Telegraph and KIIS radio is proceeding – but it has hit a few speed-bumps along the way.
The case is currently in its preliminary stages, but Judge Judith Gibson is knocking down key pillars of Mosslmani’s claim. In an earlier hearing, Gibson already indicated that a number of claims had been struck out, and questioned the logic of the entire case, given that it has attracted much more attention to the original photos.
“One hears talk of ‘the Streisand effect’ and that is very much the case”, Judge Gibson said at the time.
Gibson struck down Mosslmani’s claim against the digital edition of the Daily Telegraph article. Mosslmani’s claim was the caption the Tele added to one of the online pictures – “stunned mullet” – implied that he was stupid, as ‘mullet’ can mean ‘a stupid person’ in Australian vernacular.
The judge rejected this, claiming that ‘stunned mullet’ referred to the fact that Mosslmani was shocked by his sudden viral fame. “The whole tenor of the [article] …. is that, to use the actual words of the publication, the plaintiff had become an ‘internet sensation’ because of his ‘hair-larious’ mullet hairstyle,” Judge Gibson said.
Mosslmani still has a claim against the print edition of the article, but cannot plead that said article implies he is stupid. The judge pointed to the pictures that were published alongside the article, including mulleted celebrities like “Mel Gibson, Jason Donovan, John Farnham, Billy Ray Cyrus and John Bon Jovi” as evidence that there was no implication of stupidity.
However, Mosslmani can claim that the print article implied he was “a ridiculous person”. We’ll keep you posted on how exactly he does that.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Jnoodles Photography.
