Young Kansas City Chiefs fan accused of wearing blackface sues sports blog
9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan accused of blackface by Deadpin, finds the claims ‘scary’. His family has filed a lawsuit against the left-wing sports blog.
Holden Armenta, a 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan's family finally filed a lawsuit against Deadspin on Tuesday. The young Chiefs fan had previously opened up about how ‘scary’ it was to be labelled a racist. His parents also confirmed that the defamatory article had exposed them “to a barrage of hate”, which went as far as even death threats.
The Deadspin article had allegedly been posted as an intentional cash (and attention) grab that set out to accuse the young boy of “doubling up on racism”. Netizens further noticed how the 9-year-old had been used as a mere scapegoat to collectively bring down the NFL team's fanbase with slanderous comments. The Armenta family's lawsuit was filed weeks after the sports publication was threatened defamation. This move addresses the derogatory article penned by writer Caron Phillips, which was headlined “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.”
Deadspin defamation case: Family of Kansas City Chiefs fan files lawsuit
The Deadspin lawsuit shed light on how the publication's article had falsely accused the family of hating Black people and Native Americans at the same time. Furthermore, the Delaware lawsuit highlights how the article sought to disseminate the idea that the young fan had been “taught …racism and hate” at home.
Other bullet points in the lawsuit also point out that through the Deadspin article, the senior writer portrayed the Armenta family as anti-Black and anti-Native American bigots. Read the full document (NY Post) here.
The article's main feature image included a side profile photo of Holden. It conveniently only showed one-half of the boy's face painted black while omitting the other red-painted side, representing the two key colours of the Chiefs. CBS Sports broadcast this snap on the November 26 game when the Chiefs went up against the Las Vegas Raiders. Netizens have labelled Deadspin a representative of the "worst journalism" for intentionally picking this photo to smear the 9-year-old boy's name.
Holden's parents had even confirmed that he is Native American himself. Headlines about the Armentas vs Deadspin story have since been popping up with every new development. The family made multiple pleas for the article to be taken down.
However, instead of directly apologising to the family, Deadspin took the high way (which was rather the lowest way possible). Silently editing the story, the blog included a note as an afterthought. It stated that the publication regretted that they appeared to have been attacking the young boy.
However, this frivolous addition could be no good anymore. Their initial remarks of defamation had already cast a curse on the family. Holden's parents claimed that he was bombarded with foul expletives in addition to heart-rending death threats due to the blackface accusation.
The Deadspin controversy has undoubtedly sparked a heated conversation on the internet. Many have risen to the Armenta family's support and are hoping for Holden Armenta to get "all (Deadspin) their money". Others, however, are keeping their fingers crossed so the blog doesn't find a way to weasel out of this mess it created.