The young Kansas City Chiefs fan who was accused of wearing “blackface” and mocking American Indian culture at the team’s last game “is Native American,” his mother said.
After Holden Armenta was shown on TV wearing an American Indian headdress with his face painted red and black during the CBS broadcast of the Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders game on Sunday, leftist sports writer Carron Phillips wrote a piece decrying the young child’s “disrespect” for black people and American Indians. Armenta’s mom, Shannon, took to Facebook on Monday after Phillips’ article was published by Deadspin, defending her young son and calling out the sports blog, NewsNation reported.
“This has nothing to do with the NFL,” Shannon Armenta wrote in a post. “Also, CBS showed him multiple times and this is the photo people chose to blast to create division. He is Native American — just stop already.”
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.
Phillips’ piece was roundly mocked on social media after he condemned the young fan for wearing “blackface.” X owner Elon Musk even chimed in after a community note was placed on the article explaining that the photo used in the article only showed the side of Armenta’s face that was painted black and ignored that the other side of his face was painted red, which is the Chiefs’ primary color.
“Another @CommunityNotes win exposing deception,” Musk wrote.
Why is @Deadspin @carronJphillips trying to ruin this little kid’s life? They’re accusing him of blackface but conveniently left out his full face which was painted for the game https://t.co/kFfgAL4aDH pic.twitter.com/750u5sfETE
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 28, 2023
Phillips called out his critics in a post on X Monday, writing, “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.”
In his piece targeting the young Chiefs fan, Phillips also threw in a jab at conservatives who take a stand on cultural issues.
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“This is what happens when you ban books, stand against Critical Race Theory, and try to erase centuries of hate,” he wrote. “You give future generations the ammunition they need to evolve and recreate racism better than before.”