Legal or not, this proves that Lee has market appeal. It also proves that he is valuable to the IFBB. If the IFBB didn't think that Lee's persona brings something to the table for them, they would have banned him and that would have been that. The fact that they are "making a deal" tells me something about Lee's value to the IFBB.
If Lee takes the deal or not means nothing to most people's everyday life. My wife refers to Bodybuilding as a male soap opera and I agree. I give Lee credit for building himself into a brand with at least more pull in this industry than most will ever have. That's why Lee has the haters.