Hollywood director’s son admits to using racial slurs in deposition

The son of a Hollywood director who was also a water polo Olympic prospect gave an explosive deposition after being accused of sexually and racially attacking another player.

Lucca Van der Woude was booted from the elite LA high school Harvard-Westlake after his arrest over alleged underwater approaches to fellow star Aidan Romain.

Van der Woude, who is the son of moviemaker Thomas revealed the extraordinary circumstances behind his departure in the new documents, according to the Orange County Register.

Lucca Van der Woude was nowhere to be found Sunday. Linkedin

He admitted the school banned him from campus following his February 2024 detaining and would not allow him to return for classes or sports.

But his water polo career didn’t take a hit. He said he transferred to Newport Harbor High School before the 2024-25 academic year, was cleared to compete and went on to win the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship.

The title came just nine days after Van der Woude admitted in LA County Juvenile Division Court on Nov. 7, 2024, to sexual penetration with a foreign object, specifically digital penetration against a minor.

His Aug. 6 deposition has raised questions over whether he should have been allowed to compete for Newport Harbor at all and whether the school could ultimately be stripped of its championship.

CIF rules bar students who leave a school for disciplinary reasons from competing at their new school.

Newport Harbor High School. Facebook/Newport Harbor High School

Romain is pictured third from right while Van der Woude is in the water wearing number three. Instagram/@Jamespeaceiii

Van der Woude also admitted under oath he used the N-word while in high school, including at school and water polo practices, and for the most part escaped punishment for saying it.

The admissions mark the latest stunning turn in the scandal surrounding the former US national youth team star, who has been accused by former Harvard-Westlake teammate Romain of repeatedly sexually assaulting him and subjecting him to racist abuse.

Romain’s lawsuit alleges Van der Woude grabbed his butt and digitally penetrated him during attacks underwater.

Van der Woude was eventually arrested by Los Angeles police on the Harvard-Westlake campus in February 2024.

Aidan Romain is pictured in an undated photo. Romain accused a former teammate of tormenting him in a lawsuit. (Instagram/@Aidan Romain) Instagram/@Aidan Romain

Harvard-Westlake School on Coldwater Canyon is seen on Thursday, July 13, 2023, in Studio City, CA. (MediaNews Group RM) MediaNews Group via Getty Images

After transferring to Newport Harbor, Van der Woude continued representing Team USA internationally and, in December 2024, mentored some of the country’s top 13- and 14-year-old players at a USA Water Polo camp held at a prestigious Olympic training site.

The testimony also shed light on his alleged racism. Van der Woude acknowledged using the N-word while he was in high school.

“Have you ever used the N word?” Romain’s attorney Daniel P. Watkins asked.

“Like, have I ever said it? Yes,” Van der Woude responded.

Asked whether he had ever been disciplined for saying it in high school, he answered: “No.”

Van der Woude also recalled apologizing to Romain over his use of the slur.

Asked why he believed an apology was necessary, he said it was “because it, like, offended his, like, race and culture.”

Thomas “Basti” van der Woude and Nilda van der Woude, the parents of former Harvard Westlake student Lucca Van der Woude, are seen at their rented home on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Costa Mesa, California. CA Post

“Because he is African-American,” Van der Woude said when asked how he knew.

He said he apologized to Romain face-to-face over lunch and believed the two had patched things up. “I thought we were friends again,” he added.

Romain’s allegations describe a more disturbing relationship.

His lawsuit accuses Van der Woude of repeatedly sexually assaulting him and alleges he and another teammate subjected Romain to months of racial abuse.

Van der Woude and another player allegedly “whipped” Romain with a sports-equipment-grade jump rope in the weight room in what the suit describes as “a re-enactment of slavery,” while telling him: “Get back to work!”

The suit alleges the pair taunted Romain with racial slurs and called him the N-word nearly every day for roughly five months.

“They weren’t trying to hide it,” Romain previously said, according to court documents obtained by the California Post.

“When the lights would turn off, they would say, ‘Where’s Aidan?’ or ‘Where’s arbitrary black person?’”

Romain alleges Harvard-Westlake officials were told by him and another student Van der Woude had digitally penetrated them but failed to contact law enforcement or child protective services as required by law.

Van der Woude was later ordered by the juvenile court to pay Romain’s family $49,266 in restitution, according to an order reviewed by the Register.

The testimony comes as Van der Woude’s legal team is separately trying to strike dozens of allegations from Romain’s lawsuit.

The scandal has already derailed one major step in van der Woude’s once-promising water polo career.

He had committed to UCLA, but the university rescinded his provisional admission after a March 2025 Register report detailed his arrest and the allegations against him.

Van der Woude instead played water polo at Golden West College last season.

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