After Karmelo Anthony was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison for murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in 2025, a video (archived) circulated online in mid-June 2026 purportedly showing Jeff Metcalf, Austin Metcalf's father, calling Anthony a "watermelon felon."
Austin Metcalf's murder and Anthony's trial drew nationwide attention because of online discourse that amplified the racial elements of the case. Metcalf was white and Anthony is Black. According to The Associated Press, Metcalf's father previously denounced those who sought to stoke racial divisions over his son's death. The AP also reported that lawyers for the defense and prosecution told jurors the case had nothing to do with race.
As of this writing, Anthony has appealed his 35-year prison sentence, according to court records.
Amid the news about the sentencing, one X user posted the footage allegedly showing Jeff Metcalf using a racial stereotype to describe Anthony. The X user wrote:
Jeff Metcalf in his own words Calls Karmelo Anthony a "Watermelon Felon"….
& Americans would like to make us believe he didn't raise his sons to be bigots & this wasn't about race….
If this was The fathers posture I can only imagine what he instilled in his sons
(X user @_Re_UPS)
The clip and the claim that Jeff Metcalf called Anthony a "watermelon felon" also spread on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived) and Bluesky (archived), while Snopes readers contacted us about the claim.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture describes the use of watermelons as a "popular and pervasive" stereotype of African American people. The museum says the symbol became a racist stereotype during the Jim Crow era, when white people in the U.S. South started to associate watermelons, commonly grown by Black people, with poverty and uncleanliness.
Metcalf did call Anthony a "watermelon felon" during a three-hour interview on the "JinxedSip" podcast on June 10, 2026 (at 52:11). He phrased the remark as something he made up to help raise the profile of the podcast he was speaking on, saying:
Let me make one up, you all can make — let me make something racist up so you all can go viral. I got a new name for Melo, okay, because he was such a little boy you're always trying to portray. How about "watermelon felon," how does that one strike you?
Metcalf appeared to know that his comments were potentially inflammatory when he made them. Snopes contacted him to ask if he made the remark merely to provoke a reaction or whether it reflected his personal view of Black people. We await a reply to our query.
There is nothing that indicates the video was generated using artificial intelligence software.
Given Metcalf did use the racial stereotype about Anthony, we found social media users correctly attributed the phrase to him.
Despite the stereotypical characterization of Anthony, Metcalf also told the podcast he was not racist, saying (at 49:01), "I could care less about the color of your skin. We all bleed the same color."
He also said he had forgiven Anthony (at 53:00): "So when people ask me, 'How can you forgive him?' If I didn't I would have wound up killing him and going to prison myself."
Following Anthony's sentencing, his parents, Drew Anthony and Kala Hayes, told CBS News they believed his trial was unfair from the start and they would file an appeal. Anthony's father claimed the court of public opinion had already sentenced his son before his actual trial started.
CBS News reported that Hayes said, "My son didn't intend to hurt anyone. My son was defending himself, and that's what hurts so bad."
Anthony's legal team claimed throughout the trial that he acted in self-defense when he fatally stabbed Metcalf during a high school track meet on April 2, 2025. The jury rejected that argument, finding Anthony guilty of murder and sentencing him to 35 years in prison.
Snopes previously investigated a claim that Anthony's family misused money from a fundraiser that was meant for his defense.