The parents of a 9-year-old boy Deadspin attempted to portray as racist, claiming his use of facepaint featuring uniform colors of the Kansas City Chiefs was an example of ‘blackface’, are threatening a lawsuit against the outlet.
As many readers know by now, columnist Carron J. Phillips made a desperate attempt to cast the young Chiefs fan, Holden Armenta, as a racist for wearing black and red face paint while cheering on his team during a game against the Las Vegas Raiders last weekend.
Phillips’ article demanded the NFL “speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face (and) Native headdress” insisting the young boy “found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time.”
The shaming attempt backfired mightily.
After running an image efforting to make Phillips’ point by only showing one side of Armenta’s face, alternate views showed half his face was painted black, the other half red – which happens to match an alternate jersey version of the Chiefs sold as retail. It is a jersey he clearly owns based on subsequent television appearances.
As for the Native headdress, it turns out Armenta is himself Native American. Phillips’ story had been nuked every which way.
Deadspin About to Get Slapped With a Lawsuit For Smearing 9-Year-Old Chiefs Fan
9-year-old Holden Armenta has since appeared in news interviews where he voiced his excitement over his appearance on the screen during the Sunday night NFL broadcast, only to have it come crashing down due to Phillips’ despicable accusations.
“It’s OK because a lot of kids at school are getting excited, but it’s starting to get me a little nervous because if they go a little bit overboard, it’s a little scary,” Holden told Fox News host Jesse Watters.
Many social media users were so disgusted with Deadspin over their actions that they openly hoped the family would file a lawsuit against the publication.
They just might get their wish.
The New York Post reports that Armenta’s parents are “threatening” to file a lawsuit. And the first step has been hiring a law firm demanding a retraction of the baseless story.
“These Articles, posts on X, and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately,” a letter threatening further action against Phillips, Deadspin, G/O Media, and Great Hill Partners reads.
“It is not enough to quietly remove a tweet from X or disable the article from Deadspin’s website,” the letter demands. “You must publish your retractions and issue an apology to my clients with the same prominence and fanfare with which you defamed them.”
I don’t know … Phillips got pretty excited when he thought he saw a 9-year-old racist. It’s going to be difficult to replicate that level of fanfare when he has to admit he was wrong.
RELATED: Eagles DL Jalen Carter Smacks ‘Broke’ Fans After Being Mocked For Crying During Loss to 49ers
Will He Win?
It’s truly astounding that a grown man like Carron Phillips thought it was okay to snitch on a 9-year-old boy in a very public manner knowing it could ruin his and his family’s lives and reputations.
It’s further amazing that the editors at Deadspin actually went ahead and published the column after proofreading it.
The karma that is about to hit those involved is going to be glorious.
Many have noticed the parallels between Holden Armenta’s predicament and that of former Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann.
Sandmann, you may recall, became the main focus of a media eager to seek out racism where none exists when he showed up in a video of an alleged confrontation with a Native American man.
He was accused of being a racist by the mainstream media simply for standing in front of the man, though other video debunked that notion and proved Sandmann handled the matter with aplomb, deescalating the situation.
Several media outlets settled a massive lawsuit filed by Sandmann.
Armenta’s father indicated that a lawsuit against Deadspin might move forward regardless, suggesting it’s “a little too late” for an apology.
“The damage is already done. It’s worldwide. Now, there’s comments all over,” Bubba Armenta told Watters. “There’s, you know, disrespect towards Native Americans and towards my family.”
