Parents of 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan falsely accused of wearing blackface threaten to sue Deadspin for defamation

The parents of 9-year-old Holden Armenta, who Deadspin targeted with false accusations of having worn blackface, have threatened to hit the sports blog as well as the reporter who wrote the article with a defamation lawsuit. Armenta wore red and black face paint, a headdress, and a Chiefs jersey to support the team against the Raiders on November 26.

The parent’s threat of legal action came in a scathing letter to publisher G/O Media and Great Hill Partners and was sent less than a week after Deadspin posted its piece that falsely said the boy had put on blackface, the Daily Mail reports. 

"These articles, posts on X and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately," read the letter from lawfirm Clare Locke LLP, before specifying that "It is not enough to quietly remove a tweet from X or disable the article from Deadspin’s website."

"You must publish your retractions and issue an apology to my clients with the same prominence and fanfare with which you defamed them."

No deadline was set for when Deadspin would need to take action in order to avoid a lawsuit, according to the Daily Mail. 

Armenta appeared on Jesse Watters with his father, saying  that the attention he has gotten is "a little scary."

"It's been a pretty crazy couple of days," his father said. "I was mad, upset for him. I'm mad that he's upset. He's pretty devastated. I mean, he's seen the videos and everything posted."

Mr. Armenta said that it is "a little too late" for the Deadspin reporter Carron J. Phillips to apologize for what he has done to make the boy attract unwarranted negative attention after his piece. Phillips falsely accused the young child of wearing blackface despite his face clearly being painted with both red and white paint, the colors of the Kansas City Chiefs. The outlet additionally posted a misleading photo that showed only the black side of Holden's face. 

Phillips wrote in his hit piece against the 9-year-old child, "It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once. But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time." He also demanded that the NFL take action.

"This is what happens when you ban books, stand against Critical Race Theory, and try to erase centuries of hate. You give future generations the ammunition they need to evolve and recreate racism better than before," the reporter for Deadspin claimed.

Phillips, an award-winning writer and Pulitzer nominee, decided to double down on his attacks and pivoted to claiming that the boy's look was racist against Mexicans instead. When it was pointed out to him that the boy was not in fact wearing blackface, he responded: "For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse. Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco."

Holden himself has American Indian heritage, with his grandfather sitting on the board of the Chumash Tribe in Santa Ynez.