The halcyon days of fake tweeting are ending.  Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is suing Twitter because a fake account “damaged his reputation” and “caused emotional distress.€

La Russa’s lawyers presented three particular tweets.  Two establish the poster intended to imitate LaRussa.  Though, they acknowledge it is a parody in the presented tweets, so it seems implausible to argue anyone would think it was him.

The third mocks the Darryl Kile and Josh Hancock tragedies, “Lost 2 out of 3, but we made it out of Chicago without one drunk driving incident or dead pitcher.”

The lawsuit says the tweets were “derogatory and demeaning.€Â  They also violated his trademark (Tony La Russa is a brand identity worthy of protection).

The account has been taken down.

Fair play to La Russa on the identity issue.  Though, Twitter already removes fake accounts so he could have just asked them instead of being a litigious prick.

It is not Twitter’s responsibility to ensure Tony La Russa does not get his feelings hurt on the Internet.  How can an allusion to events that were public knowledge and reputation damaging damage a reputation?  Under that rationale calling a rapist a rapist would “damage his reputation” and “cause emotional distress.€

It takes a certain type of person to be the victim of a cruel joke, yet come off looking worse than the person who told it.  Congratulations, Tony.