An Oregon actor who bombarded a black college student with racist hate on social media agreed to seek counseling and renounce white supremacy as part of a settlement the victim hopes will serve as a model.
Evan James McCarty, who has appeared in numerous stage productions in Eugene and elsewhere, also agreed to apologize in writing and in a video that will be recorded for advocacy and educational purposes, reported the Associated Press.
Law student Taylor Dumpson had sued McCarty, who posted on Twitter as "Byron de la Vandal," along with Daily Stormer publisher Andrew Anglin and another person after she was targeted with racist abuse.
The lawsuit claims Anglin directed his site's readers to harass Dumpson after she was elected as the first black woman to serve as American University's student government president.
McCarthy, whose Twitter handle was an apparent reference to Byron De La Beckwith, who assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963, was identified earlier this year as a neo-Nazi by the Rose City Antifa group.
Anglin first began posting about Dumpson in May 2017, when someone hung bananas, hateful messages and nooses around campus following her inauguration as student president.
The neo-Nazi publisher included links to Dumpson's Facebook page and the American University Student Government's Twitter page, McCarty tweeted photos at her captioned "READY THE TROOPS" and "OOGA BOOGA."
Dumpson hopes her lawsuit settlement will stand as a model for encouraging others to abandon white supremacy, and McCarty's parents said their family had "sincere empathy" for her and was "profoundly sorry."
"Evan, our son, feels deep regret about his actions and is committed to making changes and moving forward in a positive way," the parents said in a statement. "At this time, he is focused on continuing to make progress, pursuing his degree, contributing to his community and committed to making amends."
Dumpson's attorneys previously asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., to enter default judgments against Anglin and the other defendant, Brian Andrew Ade, for their failure to respond to the suit.
Anglin, who has been sued at least two other targets of hateful trolling campaigns, and Ade are not involved in the McCarty settlement.
McCarty agreed to attend at least one year of anti-hate training sessions with a licensed therapist or a qualified counselor, and he agreed to complete at least four academic courses on race and gender issues.
He must also complete at least 200 hours of community service promoting racial justice and civil rights.
"I guess I was open to the idea that even the perpetrator of a racially motivated act of bias could still be more or less reformed," Dumpson told The Associated Press.
Dumpson, whose suit accuses all three men of violating two federal civil rights laws, said she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and still feels terrified to leave her home at night.
"It's one of the first things I think about in the morning and one of the last things I think about when I go to sleep," she said.
