CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – Legal action is still far from over in a hotly contested case involving the Academic Magnet football teams’ controversial postgame celebrations 10 years ago.

Attorneys for the Charleston County School District asked the judge Tuesday to drop the case However, new information provided by lawyers representing seven players of the football team who filed the defamation claim caused the judge to postpone his decision.

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

around the case 2014 investigation It was reported by the region that the Academic Magnet football teams’ post-match celebrations included players allegedly celebrating their victory with a watermelon ritual while making monkey noises.

When the investigation first began, district officials interviewed the football team, where, following victories over predominantly African-American football teams, the Academic Magnet football team reported to school staff that they had drawn an African-American face on a watermelon.

Allegedly, the players chanted around the watermelon in a manner that could be perceived as animal sounds and threw the watermelon to the ground before eating its pieces.

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

In fact, these cases have gone to the Supreme Court and Supreme Court many times over the years.

Many of the statements cited in the courtroom were a press conference 2014 Superintendent Nancy McGinley was retained during the investigation.

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

“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 representing the Charleston County School District.

Throughout Tuesday’s discussion with the players’ attorney, John Parker, the attorneys cited articles published by the Charleston City Paper in 2014, saying the articles implied the football team was racist.

“What we’re here for today is because of the articles that have been published about these instances that openly characterize these students as racist,” Parker said.

The main argument Parker made was that even if the school district had not explicitly said the players were racist, the insult could have occurred through the practice.

“There is ample evidence that they (the players) were harmed, suffered mental anguish and emotional distress,” Parker said. “His (McGinley) statements at the press conference and everything that followed came from him.”

Mauldin argued that no one from the area called the players racist during the press conference and investigation, and that the players were unable to show any injuries from the alleged insult.

“The inspector stated in an early press release that there was no evidence that the football players understood the negative cultural consequences of their rituals; “So we said we do not call these football players racist.”

Parker requests a jury trial and Mauldin asks the judge to order dismissal.

The district requested continued review of the new information Parker presented, and the judge gave them ten days to review the materials before all parties returned to the courtroom for the judge’s decision.

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