A Texas jury has awarded 19-year-old Asher Vann $3.2 million in damages after determining that a classmate’s mother and her attorney launched a social media smear campaign that falsely framed him as a racist bully.
The case traces back to a birthday sleepover held in February 2021 in Plano, Texas, where Vann and several other eighth-graders were filmed tricking their classmate SeMarion Humphrey, who is black, into drinking his own urine.
Humphrey also alleged that the boys shot him with BB guns during a frog hunt and directed racial slurs at him during the incident, which took place at Haggard Middle School.
A Snapchat video of the episode spread rapidly across social media and drew national media attention, triggering widespread public demands that the teenagers involved be criminally charged and expelled from school.
Humphrey’s mother, Summer Smith, moved quickly to go public with allegations that the incident was racially motivated.
Smith also retained attorney Kim Cole to pursue the matter further.
Law enforcement investigated the incident, but authorities never arrested or filed charges against any of the teenagers involved.
Vann subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against Smith and Cole, claiming their public accusations fueled a damaging viral narrative that caused him severe emotional harm and invaded his privacy.
After hearing the case, jurors sided with Vann and ordered Smith and Cole to pay him $3.2 million in damages.
Vann, now a college freshman, spoke publicly following the verdict and addressed the nature of his actions at the sleepover.
“This wasn’t me doing a racist act. This isn’t me hating someone because of their skin color. This was me at an immature stage of my life at a sleepover for my birthday, doing immature, dumb things,” Vann told Dallas-area news station WFAA.
He continued: “It was immature. It was stupid. It was nasty. But that’s not who I am, and that’s not me today.”
Despite the jury ruling in his favor, Vann acknowledged that the legal victory did not undo the years of damage caused by the public fallout.
“There was no winner in the end,” Vann said.
He added, “Things are getting better. But I don’t feel like I am who I should’ve been at this age because of that.”
Smith has publicly stated she intends to appeal the verdict.
In a statement following the ruling, she defended her decision to speak out on behalf of her son.
“Defending my son was what I should have done. And I would defend my son still,” Smith said.
“I feel that the acts were vile. And I feel like that was my opinion of the act. The urinate in a cup, to put it to someone’s lips to have them drink it, is vile.”
Smith also acknowledged that she did not intend for Vann to face threats or harassment as a result of her public statements.
“I never wanted anyone to threaten anyone at the school or anything. I simply wanted them to be held accountable in the proper way,” she said.
Smith added that she was “saddened” by the abuse Vann reportedly endured in the years following the incident, WFAA reported.
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