These lads who were just trying to take care of their skin ended up being kicked out of their private high school in California after a picture went viral that appeared to show the then-14-year-olds wearing blackface. Only problem is – they weren’t.
It all started in 2017 when the students took a selfie while wearing green acne masks during a sleepover. Not exactly your typical teenage boy sleepover, but whatever. The masks they were using are applied as light green, and then turn darker as they dry.
The photo found its way online 3 years later during the George Floyd protests, and resulted in the teens being expelled from their $20,000+ per year private school, Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California.
The teens then filed a lawsuit against the school, citing breach of contract along with defamation and First Amendment violations and claiming that they were wearing the acne masks “in solidarity with a friend suffering from severe acne.” They even provided a screenshot of the purchase of the “Out of Trouble 10 Minute Mask” that they had applied to their face.
Well this week, a California jury has awarded the boys $1 million in damages, ruling that the school breached its contract with the students when it kicked them out over the selfie. $1 million! What a result.
After the verdict, the lads’ attorney praised the jury for holding the school accountable:
“Our primary goal was to clear (our clients’) names.
‘It was quite clear the jury believed these were innocent face masks. They are young kids, their internet trail is going to haunt them for the next 60 years. Now they don’t have to worry about that.’
This case is significant not only for our clients but for its groundbreaking effect on all private high schools in California, which are now legally required to provide fair procedure to students before punishing or expelling them.
The jury rightly confirmed that Saint Francis High School’s procedures were unfair to our clients and that the school is not above the law.”
Naturally, the school disagrees and says they’re considering their options as they move to appeal the verdict. Must be weird for a Catholic school to lose a lawsuit for something other than sexual abuse of a minor, for once?
Admittedly, the cynic in me wonders whether these 14-year-old rascals were doing blackface and managed to style it out as a wholesome story where they were showing support for their friend with acne, which would be an absolute masterstroke on the part of their lawyer. For the school to plan an appeal of the verdict, I suppose they feel the same way. Oh well, don’t spend that $1 million all at once, boys!
For the time Conor McGregor’s mum went viral for wearing blackface on Halloween, click HERE. Oh dear.
