Deadspin updated a recent story that accused a young Kansas City Chiefs fan of wearing “blackface” — after he painted his face half red and half black for the team’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders — following threat of legal action.
The sports outlet’s new headline reads, “The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint in the Stands” and includes an image of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. The original story had a photo of the young football fan, Holden Armenta, wearing a traditional headdress and only one side of the boy’s face-the black side. The original headline read, “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.”
The new version of the piece also removed the reporter’s claim that the Chiefs’ fan “found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time.”
.@Deadspin finally changed their story about the child Chiefs fan in ‘blackface’ amid legal threats from the family.
The editor replaced the deceptive cover photo showing only one side of the kid’s face — the side painted black — with a photo of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.… pic.twitter.com/b4muu0XRTP
— OutKick (@Outkick) December 8, 2023
An editor’s note was included at the top of the piece that reads, “On Nov. 27, Deadspin published an opinion piece criticizing the NFL for allowing a young fan to attend the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 26 wearing a traditional Native American headdress and, based upon the available photo, what appeared to be black face paint.”
“Unfortunately the article drew attention to the fan, though our intended focus was on the NFL and its checkered history on race, an issue which our writer has covered extensively for Deadspin,” the note added. “Three years ago, the Chiefs banned fans from wearing headdresses in Arrowhead Stadium, as well as face painting that ‘appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions.’ The story’s intended focus was the NFL and its failure to extend those rules to the entire league.”
“We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan,” the note continued. “To that end, our story was updated on Dec. 7 to remove any photos, tweets, links, or otherwise identifying information about the fan. We have also revised the headline to better reflect the substance of the story.”
Holden’s parents, Shannon and Raul ‘Bubba,’ hired an attorney to demand a retraction of the story and threatened further action against the author Carron J. Phillips, Deadspin, G/O Media, and Great Hill Partners, as previously reported.
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In a letter obtained by News Nation, the Armentas wrote that, “These articles, posts on X and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately.”
“It is not enough to quietly remove a tweet from X or disable the article from Deadspin’s website,” the letter added. “You must publish your retractions and issue an apology to my clients with the same prominence and fanfare with which you defamed them.”
Holden is from an American Indian family, and his grandfather is on the board of the Chumash tribe in Santa Ynez, California, according to The Post Millennial.
Related: Parents Threaten Lawsuit After Deadspin Accuses 9-Year-Old Of ‘Blackface’