The family of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan accused of blackface by a Deadspin reporter has filed a lawsuit against the sporting goods store.
During the Chiefs’ game against the Las Vegas Raiders in November, Holden Armenta, 9, was captured by CBS Sports cameras wearing team colors all over his face and a Native American headdress.
However, after painting his face black and red, cameras initially only caught the black half of Armenta’s face, leading to accusations of blackface from Deadspin’s Carron J. Phillips.
Phillips later wrote in a story titled “the NFL must speak out against Kansas City Chiefs fan in blackface, native headdress,” that Armenta had “found a way to hate black people and Native Americans at the same time.” ‘ with his make-up during the match.
Following the article, fans were quick to point out that Armenta had also painted the other half of his face red and was wearing only the colors of Kansas City, before the youngster’s family revealed that they are Native Americans themselves.
The family of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan accused of blackface by a Deadspin reporter has filed a lawsuit against the sporting goods store
Holden Armenta, 9, was captured by CBS Sports cameras with team colors all over his face and a Native American headdress during a Chiefs game
Carron J. Phillips (pictured) of Deadspin wrote an article accusing the youngster of blackface
And just over two months after the incident, the Armentas are now suing Deadspin for defamation after their son was labeled a racist by Phillips.
“The article falsely claimed that HA had ‘found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time,’” the lawsuit says.
However, after painting his face black and red, cameras initially only caught the black half of Armenta’s face, leading to accusations of blackface from Deadspin’s Carron J. Phillips.
Phillips took offense, later writing in a story that a Chiefs fan had “found a way to hate black people and Native Americans at the same time” with his face paint during the game.
Following the article, fans were quick to point out that Armenta had also painted the other half of his face red and was wearing only the colors of Kansas City, before the youngster’s family revealed that they are Native Americans themselves.
And just over two months after the incident, the Armentas are now suing Deadspin for defamation after their son was labeled a racist by Phillips.
“The article falsely claimed that HA had ‘found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time,’” the lawsuit says.
Nearly two months later, Armenta’s family filed a lawsuit against Deadspin for defamation
The Armentas claim the story “maliciously and wantonly targeted a nine-year-old boy and his parents because of Phillips’ own race-infused political agenda.”
“It was alleged that HA’s parents, Shannon and Raul, ‘taught’ HA ‘racism and hatred’ at home. It deliberately painted a picture of the Armenta family as anti-black, anti-Native American bigots who proudly engaged in the worst kind of racist behavior, motivated by their family’s hatred of black and Native Americans.”
The family is also asking for “all costs, disbursements, fees and interest as permitted by law” over an article that they claim “maliciously and wantonly assaulted a nine-year-old boy and his parents because of Phillips’ own continued racing infused political agenda.”
They also claim to have received a number of abusive messages in the wake of the story, while claiming that Phillips tends to focus heavily on racial stories in his reporting.
In December, Deadspin issued a half-hearted apology to the Armentas after receiving criticism for the story. Instead, Phillips’ piece claimed to be intended to point the finger at the NFL over its “checkered history on racing.”
“We regret any suggestion that we attacked the fan,” the note said. “To that end, our story was updated on December 7 to remove any photos, tweets, links or otherwise identifying information about the fan. We’ve also revised the headline to better reflect the content of the story.”
However, a week before that backtracking statement came, Armentas’ father had already insisted that it was too late for an apology.
Armentas and his father Bubba spoke out in December about the reaction to his Chiefs outfit
When asked if he would like an apology from Phillips, Bubba, the boy’s father, said on Fox News, “You know, I don’t even know what to think about that. It’s a little too late for that.
“The damage has already been done, it’s global… now there are comments everywhere, there is disrespect towards the Indians and towards my family. It is in no way intended to disrespect the Indians or tribes.”
Holden was also asked how he felt amid the backlash to his face paint.
“It’s OK because a lot of kids at school get excited,” he said. “But I’m starting to get a little nervous about it because when they go overboard it’s a little scary.”