The far- anticipated Washington Post narrative on Tigers head women’s hockey coach Kim Mulkey dropped Saturday.
It does n’t appear Mulkey’s threats to sue for defamation are warranted.
The narrative, authored by Kent Babb, is almost 7, 000 thoughts and headlined,” The Kim Mulkey manner. The LSU instructor holds prejudices, battles anyone — and keeps winning. But at what price”?
The account is a deep dive into Mulkey’s living in sports. As a young person, Beck examines the peaks and valleys of her amazing coaching career and examines the effects of her father’s control, Les Mulkey. Mulkey’s Tigers–the defending champs–defeated UCLA 78- 69 Saturday to progress to the Elite Eight Monday evening against Iowa, an 89- 68 win over Colorado on Saturday.

Although Babb’s story adds new details to a preexisting perception of Mulkey as insensitive toward LGBTQIA + community members —specifically her players—and writes she is estranged from her father and sister, Tammy, much of the story draws from previous publications, including Mulkey’s 2007 autobiography,” Won’t Back Down”, or from statements made on the record by interviewees. The Post is generally protected by that strategy from factual accusations of defamation. In the event that Mulkey sues, it might be possible to use anti-SLAPP protections, which protect reporters from harassment intended to thwart their First Amendment right, to not only overturn her case but also push her to pay legal fees and costs.
Maybe accidentally, Mulkey next Saturday increased readers curiosity by saying she had “hired the best libel law firm in the country” and would reimburse the Post if it published a “false history” or “hit part” about her. Unscientific theories that range from roles in political scandals to actually possible crimes have been the subject of a lot of debate.
Otherwise, the story covers acquainted and nicely- traveled topics, albeit with fresh details and voices. Abbot examines Mulkey’s, 61, relationship with her ailing father or girl. The girl informed Babb that she no longer communicates with Mulkey, despite Mulkey’s memoir mentioning that she was separated from her father.
Additionally, the narrative examines Mulkey’s difficult relationship with previous Baylor star Brittney Griner, who Mulkey coached in school. Mulkey, who Griner portrays as treating her worse because Griner was queer, is mentioned in the story’s critique of Griner writing about him. Additionally, Griffin alleges that Mulkey instructed queer people to maintain their sexuality secret.
Babb conversations a number of people, including former Baylor person Kelli Griffin. She claimed that Mulkey made her life “hell” despite Griffin calling him” an awesome coach.” Griffin claims Mulkey suspended her after a fight with an ex- girlfriend/teammate but did n’t suspend the other person who had not, like Griffin, come out as gay.

Babb includes claims made by Mulkey’s attorneys throughout the narrative as well as affidavits they provided to contradict different Mulkey criticisms. For example, original Baylor player Morghan Medlock sworn a statement telling the Post that she had never witnessed Mulkey abuse Griffin and that she had been given a marijuana use suspension.
Mulkey do face many hurdles in suing the Post for libel.
For example, it’s not immediately obvious which statements in the long story had been plausibly depicted as derogatory.
A defamatory statement about Mulkey would need to 1 ) represent a false assertion of fact, as opposed to an opinion statement, 2 ) cause her reputation to suffer, and 3 ) exhibit actual malice, indicating that the Post knew the statement was false or had reckless disregard for whether it was true or false.
Mulkey wrote many of the statements in a book, texts, or otherwise to the internet, in quotes or descriptions. Since Mulkey made those claims, they are not disparaging.
Mulkey might say that the Post’s use of her remarks is purposefully exaggerated and constitutes the Post’s legitimate legal defense of “false mild.” Fake light is essentially true, but it is presented in a very deceptive manner that harms reputation. No part of the narrative makes any suggestion that using fake light is plausible.
The narrative also draws on claims made by people about Mulkey, including important ones that suggested Mulkey is hostile toward LGBTQIA+ people and that she has separated from her sister. Those comments are possible not defamatory since they are made by interviews and, in some instances, the Post includes protestations by Mulkey’s members. Some of the claims could also be interpreted as opinions expressed rather than facts. It’s also not immediately clear how any of the statements will damage Mulkey’s reputation, which for more than a decade has attracted criticism regarding LGBTQIA + issues.
Additionally, Mulkey and LSU have declined to comment on numerous occasions, according to The Post. Since repeated requests for comment imply that the release was concerned about whether the claims were true or false, Mulkey would have to be more hesitant to deny that there was genuine hate. For example, even Mulkey will then say her sister erroneously told Babb they were estranged. The difficulty for Mulkey: She could have told the Post that before publishing. Additionally, Mulligan added that the publication has been in the functions for two years, which indicates that the tale likely underwent an unusually high levels of processing and truth viewing.
If Mulkey nonetheless sues the Post, it would probably occur in Louisiana, a more favorable forum for the popular LSU coach than any other jurisdiction. But Louisiana, like other states, has an anti- SLAPP statute. According to the Institute for Free Press, Louisiana’s statute requires the award of attorneys ‘ fees and costs when a lawsuit is found to have violated the First Amendment.
A lawsuit might also allow Mulkey to face pretrial deposition. She would have to give sworn testimony and testify in court about a variety of subjects connected to the Post story, which could both lengthen and detract from the conversation.
Mulkey will likely decide that bringing legal action against the Post over what appears to be a carefully reported and non-salacious story would be a bad course of action.
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