Jeff Metcalf, the father of slain Texas teenager Austin Metcalf, used an openly racist insult against Karmelo Anthony during a podcast interview this week, calling the convicted 19-year-old a “watermelon felon” while taunting people who he claims play “the race card.”
The comments came days after Anthony was sentenced to 35 years in prison, and after a judge lifted the gag order that had restricted both families from speaking publicly. As theGrio reported, Anthony’s parents broke their silence this week, vowing to keep fighting for their son and saying they believe he did not receive a fair trial. TheGrio has also covered the questions surrounding the jury, which included no Black members in a county where Black residents make up 12.1% of the population. According to Hollywood Unlocked, Metcalf made the remarks during a nearly three-hour appearance on the JinxedSip Podcast with Sarah Fields on Wednesday.
Metcalf offered the slur unprompted, framing it as a deliberate response to accusations of racism surrounding the case. He dubbed Anthony “Watermelon Felon” and asked, “How’s that one strike ya? I hope he enjoyed his first night in that cell last night, ‘cause he’s gonna have many nights to think about what the f—k he did.”
The remarks came alongside an extended attack on Anthony’s parents, Andrew Anthony and Kala Hayes, whom he accused of abandoning their son and profiting from his case. “You are grifters. You should be ashamed of yourselves,” he said, claiming the pair did not attend their son’s sentencing and suggesting child protective services should check on their other children. He went further, calling Andrew Anthony a “coward” and directing a misogynistic slur at Hayes while asking, “What’d you do to that boy to make him stab somebody?”
Metcalf insisted in the same interview that he is “not racist,” saying he is only “racist against a—holes” and that “we all bleed the same color.” He also invoked the phrase “Black fatigue,” telling listeners, “You’ve embarrassed your own culture and race.”
The comments land amid an already raw national debate over the case. Anthony, who is Black, was convicted of murder by a jury with no Black members and sentenced to 35 years for the fatal stabbing of Metcalf’s white son at a Frisco track meet, a sentence figures from Cardi B to Rep. Jasmine Crockett have publicly called excessive.
