A water polo star has broken his silence after allegations of sexual assault on a teammate

The black water star has broken his silence after dismissing allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination against one of his white co-stars.

Aidan Romain, now 18, sat down with Vanity Fair for an explosive interview, sharing the shocking details of months of abuse while at the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School in California.

“It was direct, blatant discrimination,” he said magazine. The water polo player recalled the first time he said he was sexually abused by Lucca Van der Woude, one of the people named in his lawsuit.

Once while eating eggs, she felt someone touch her buttocks and insert a finger. The experience shocked him – even more so when he realized it was his colleague, Lucca.

“I was like, ‘Why did you do that? What did you do?’ Aidan said. “He just laughed.”

Aidan also alleged numerous incidents where he was racially abused and called slurs, including the shortened N-word.

According to the lawsuit, the player named Kim and Van der Woude “constantly demeaned” him and used slurs frequently.

“They weren’t trying to hide it,” Aidan said. When the lights went out, they were saying, ‘Where’s Aidan?’ or ‘Where’s the lawless black man?’”

He described the universe as infinite and extremely prejudiced. “It was direct, blatant discrimination,” he said.

The complaint also alleges that Kim and Van der Woude “whipped” Aidan in the weight room with a sports-grade jumping rope in what the suit describes as a “reenactment of slavery,” while saying, “Get back to work!”

Another incident is suspected to have happened during the team’s trip to Spain with the Los Angeles Premier Water Polo Club, where the players were training at Club Natació Barcelona.

According to the lawsuit, one teammate started chanting the N-word at another black player on the team bus.

When the player told him to stop, one of his colleagues allegedly warned Aidan and another player to keep quiet, telling them that no one would believe “two black players” in the whole team.

All this has put Aidan’s family in a difficult position.

“I was shocked that Aidan could tell people at school and no one did anything,” said Alex Romain, Aidan’s father.

“No one said anything, no one told us. He wiped his eyes. “We haven’t slept since October 2023.”

The Romain family says this incident lasted more than two years. Aidan joined the varsity team in August 2022 and, in the fall of 2023, he and his parents officially reported the racial harassment. Within a few days, the school concluded that there had been no attack.

On February 28, 2024, Van der Woude was arrested. On November 7, 2024, he admitted in juvenile court that he had sexual intercourse with a foreign object against a child under a plea agreement; the case against Aidan was later dropped.

Now, Aidan and his family have filed a civil lawsuit against Harvard-Westlake, school officials and Van der Woude.

“What range of emotions? Ours? When we just found out our 18-month-old son was assaulted? When you say you feel a range of emotions in a situation where at least two children have been sexually abused by another person, it only proves that your highest goal is not to protect all the children in your care. Is there any other appropriate reaction than anger?” Alex said Variety.

Van der Woude continues to be innocent despite having pleaded guilty in a criminal court.

“Lucca denies all the allegations against him as we understand they were made by the Roma group,” his lawyers wrote in a letter to Condé Nast.

“There have been no witnesses to these claims and there have been no complaints for over 18 months.”

Regarding the civil case, his lawyers added: “We are not willing to take this matter to court. The denial of Mr.

The school — which has an endowment of $832 million and, according to the student newspaper, an estimated $250 million in endowments — has publicly denied wrongdoing and said it was doing the right thing.

In a statement provided to Vanity FairThe school said it “unequivocally disputes many of these allegations that falsify the facts and actions of the school.”

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