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Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin is being sued over a pair of now-deleted social media posts. The coach, who’s always active online, has been known to stir the pot.
He’s often seen jabbing rival coaches or taking shots at SEC fanbases.
This offseason, alone, he’s riled up future opponent South Carolina with a post about a transfer wide receiver, mocked Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz over his recruiting antics, body shamed Mississippi State’s Jeffy Lebby, and trolled Paul Finebaum for being terrible at his job.
He never lets an opportunity slide!
None of those past jabs have landed him in hot water, though, at least legally. Ironically, he’s being sued for some of his tamer work.
Deleted Lane Kiffin tweets lead to lawsuit.
Those posts revolve around a book called “Winning Isn’t Normal” written by swimming psychologist Dr. Keith Bell and published in 1981.
More from the Clarion Ledger:
The lawsuit seeks damages from Kiffin on one count of copyright infringement resulting from a pair of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter…
The lawsuit states that Kiffin “retweeted” a passage from “Winning Isn’t Normal” in 2016, and Bell responded by sending him cease-and-desist letters…
Kiffin then took down the post…
On March 20, 2022, Kiffin’s X account posted a photo of a seven-paragraph passage under the heading “WINNING ISN’T NORMAL.” Bell’s lawsuit claims the post is nearly an exact copy of a passage from Winning Isn’t Normal. According to the filing, Bell sent another cease-and-desist letter to Kiffin and claimed that the coach failed to comply with the demand.
While in some ways it seems like a free form of marketing, Bell argues that the retweets are “commercial in nature” due to social media’s role in recruiting (and, in turn, the stability of Kiffin’s job status).
Ole Miss has not commented on the lawsuit.
It comes as another offseason distraction as the Rebels’ 2024 campaign creeps closer, with starting QB Jaxson Dart recently becoming the target of cheating rumors, though he seems focused on the task that lies ahead.
It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out for Lane Kiffin and Co.