Teenager sues media for ridiculing his ‘striking mullet’ hairstyle after party picture goes viral

A teenager whose “striking mullet haircut” became an internet sensation after he was photographed at a party is suing several media outlets for defamation, claiming he became the subject of ridicule.

Ali Ziggi Mosslmani, known as “Ziggy”, filed defamation suits against the Daily Mail, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph and the Australian Radio Network for publishing the photograph and making fun of his extreme haircut, which was shaved at the front and long at the back.

Mosslmani was pictured on page 11 of The Daily Telegraph alongside photoshopped images of his hair as a skunk and being used as a variation of pin the tail on the donkey.

Mosslmani’s lawyers claimed to court that he was subjected to ridicule as a result of the coverage and that he had been defamed as “hideously ugly”.

But in a preliminary judgment before the case goes to trial, District Court judge Judith Gibson said most of the comments in the articles were of a humorous nature and did not imply the teenager was ugly. She also found that saying a hairstyle was ridiculous was not the same as saying the plaintiff was ugly.

“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,” she said.

The photograph was taken by a professional photographer Jeremy Nool at an 18th birthday party in Hurstville, in Sydney’s west. The photographer said he had no idea it would generate so much interest. It was made into memes featuring animals and famous landmarks.