College football coach fired over tweet mocking Stacey Abrams fights back with lawsuit

A former assistant football coach at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga fired in January over a derogatory tweet directed at Stacey Abrams has sued the university.

The attorney for Chris Malone, who coached offensive line at the university, said the longtime coach should not be fired for a tweet that was up for 30 minutes.

“Most victims of cancel culture just walk away. Chris Malone won’t walk away,” attorney Doug Churdar said in a statement.

In the tweet, Malone referred to the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate as “Fat Albert” while alleging she was involved in cheating during the Georgia Senate runoff elections.

“Enjoy the buffet Big Girl! You earned it!!! Hope the money was good, still not governor!” the tweet read, McClatchy News reported.

Abrams, formerly the House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly, has been credited as being instrumental in helping Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff and President Joe Biden to victories in Georgia.

Three former Chattanooga players “responded negatively” to Malone’s tweet and he deleted it, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. Two days after the tweet, Malone was forced to resign, his attorney alleges in the lawsuit.

Chattanooga head coach Rusty Wright, Chancellor Steve Angle and Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Mark Wharton each provided statements about Malone’s termination. Wright called it “unacceptable and not any part of what I stand for or what Chattanooga football stands for.”

Wharton, Wright and Angle are all named in the lawsuit.

Malone’s attorney said the coach should be protected by the First Amendment and it’s not out of the ordinary for politicians to be criticized.

“Calling politicians liars and cheaters is a proud American tradition. Nobody’s got a problem with it until its ‘their’ politician,” Churdar said. “And fat jokes might be unkind, but they aren’t uncommon. Just ask Chris Christie and Donald Trump.”

Before coaching at Chattanooga, Malone coached at Old Dominion, James Madison and UMass. He also previously coached at Virginia State, a historically Black university.

“I criticize the wrong politician and suddenly I’m racist?” Malone said. “That’s completely false and a very tired cliche, I might add.”

Malone wants to be reinstated at Chattanooga with back pay and seeks undisclosed damages, according to the lawsuit.

The termination will ”have a chilling effect” on free speech with other employees at the university, the attorney said.

“Bottom line, Malone tweeted as a private citizen about a matter of public concern,” Churdar writes in the lawsuit. “Malone did not need (Wharton, Wright or Angle’s) permission or approval to do so, especially on his personal time, from his personal residence, and from his personal Twitter account. And (Wharton, Wright or Angle) terminated him in violation of the First Amendment.”

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