Tipsheet

Another Race Hoax Just Lost in a Texas Court

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  February 03, 2026 2:30 PM

In 2021, Texas middle schooler Asher Vann was accused of targeting and "torturing" a black classmate during a sleepover in Plano.

The mother of that black classmate, Summer Smith, and her attorney, Kim Cole accused Vann of a "racially-motivated hate crime" and Smith called Vann and the other children "evil" during press conferences.

Of course, just a year after the Summer of George Floyd, the media were eager and willing to run with the racially-motivated hate crime story.

According to Andrew Kerr, major outlets like NBC, CBS, CNN, and Good Morning America ran with the story and helped Smith raise more than $100,000 in a GoFundMe.

Now, a jury has found that Smith and Cole are liable for damages in the case for intentionally smearing Vann.

Here's more from the Free Beacon:

And then, a little under five years later, a racially diverse Texas jury—including four black members—ruled the whole thing was a hoax.

On Jan. 22, Texas district court judge Benjamin Smith ordered Smith and Cole to pay $3.2 million in damages to Vann, now an adult attending his first year of college, for intentionally smearing him and tarnishing his future earning potential during their media tour in 2021. The ruling followed a civil trial in October 2025, where the jury determined that Cole and Smith cooked up the scheme to raise their public profiles during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and to rake in money through GoFundMe.

Court records show that Smith put less than $1,000 of the nearly $120,000 GoFundMe windfall toward her son’s schooling. Account statements reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show the remaining funds were spent on luxuries, including a designer dog, dining and travel, beauty products, liquor, vapes, cell phones, car payments, and rent.

Smith said she plans to appeal and maintains she told the truth about what happened to her son.

There needs to be consequences for this. Vann and his family received death threats, and protesters threw bricks at his house, according to Kerr.

This is also a reasonable response.

Attorney Cole briefly represented Karmelo Anthony but left the case after the family bought a $900,000 home and raised more than $500,000 through a GoFundMe campaign. Anthony is accused of fatally stabbing a white student at a high school track meet in 2025.

Yet despite the jury's January 22 verdict, the story has all but disappeared from the legacy media.

Nick Sandmann, the Covington Catholic student who was smeared by the media, settled lawsuits with CNN and The Washington Post over their treatment. Asher Vann might want to consider doing the same.