The legal battle in Academic Magnet football players' watermelon ritual lawsuits continues

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – Legal action in a highly publicized case surrounding the Academic Magnet football teams’ controversial celebration of 10 years ago is still ongoing.

Attorneys for the Charleston County School District asked a judge Tuesday that the matter is thrown out but new information presented by lawyers representing seven members of the football team claiming defamation put the judge’s decision on hold.

Two separate lawsuits, one against six members of the 2014 Academic Magnet High School football team and another against a former Black member of the same team, Darius Nwokike, were consolidated into one motion for summary judgment.

The case surrounds one Research from 2014 across the district in the post-game celebrations of Academic Magnet football teams, where players reportedly celebrated victories with a watermelon ritual while making monkey noises.

When the investigation first began, district officials interviewed the football team, where they reported victories over predominantly African-American football teams. The Academic Magnet football team drew what appeared to the school staff to be an African-American face on a watermelon.

The players reportedly sang around the watermelon in what could be construed as animal sounds and hit the watermelon on the ground before eating the pieces.

The football tradition has been criticized locally and nationally for its alleged implementation of racist stereotypes, but after Tuesday’s hearing it is still unknown whether the case will be dismissed or heard by a jury.

These cases have even ended up in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal several times over the years.

Many of the statements referenced in court come true a press conference that 2014 Chief Inspector Nancy McGinley detained during the investigation.

McGinley was seen holding up a drawing referencing what was drawn on the watermelon.

The players would have drawn a picture like this during the ritual.(LIVE 5 NEWS)

“The district held a press conference but noted that the face drawn on the watermelon could be described as a caricature,” said Brian Mauldin, an attorney for the Charleston County School District.

Articles published by the Charleston City Paper in 2014 were referenced by attorneys during Tuesday’s debate with player attorney John Parker, who argued that the articles implied the football team was racist.

“What we’re here about today is about articles that have been published about these instances where these students were openly called racist,” Parker said.

Parker’s main argument was that defamation by implementation can occur even if the school district did not outright say the players were racist.

“There is ample evidence that they (the players) suffered harm, mental anguish and emotional distress,” Parker said. “The statements she (McGinley) made at the press conference and everything that came afterward all came from her.”

Mauldin argued during the press conference and investigation that no one from the district called the football players racist and that the players cannot prove any harm as a result of the alleged slur.

“The Chief Inspector stated in an early press release that there was no evidence to indicate that the footballers understood the negative cultural implications of their ritual; In other words: we are saying that we do not call these football players racist.”

Parker asks for a jury trial and Mauldin asks the judge for dismissal.

The district requested a continuation of reviewing the new information presented by Parker, with the judge giving them ten days to review the materials before all parties would be back in the courtroom for the judge’s decision.