Deadspin, Sports Media Falsely Frame Little Kid Chiefs Fan Of Blackface

Social media users and sports writers say they are outraged over a little kid at the Kansas City Chiefs game wearing an Indian headdress and black face paint.

Dan Le Batard shared a tweet saying the kid contradicted the NFL's vow to "end racism" by attending the game. Other users have called for the child to be banned from future matchups. A dollar-store-Jemele-Hill named Carron J. Phillips at Deadspin demanded the NFL act.

And act swiftly.:

Phillips did not respond to an OutKick request for comment. We will update this story if he does.

The consensus among the outrage crowd is that the boy committed "double racism" by culturally appropriating the black and Native American communities. And that he's a vile racist for doing that.

But here are some facts:

The kid is not wearing "blackface." The Deadspin article is purposely deceiving.

As several fans in attendance noted, the other half of his face is painted red. You can see a glimpse of the color pattern below:

Fans have used double face paint during games to support their teams since the inception of sports. It happens at every stadium, in support of every team.

Cowboys fans paint their faces blue and silver. Vikings fans paint their face purple and gold. Jets fans paint their faces green and white. Likewise, Steelers fans paint their faces black and gold.

See:

Yet because the Chiefs' secondary color is more ambiguous -- yellow? -- fans understandably default to stock colors, like black or white.

Perhaps the child wearing a black shirt under his red jersey played a role in selecting black face paint.

Second, headdresses are synonymous with, well, Chiefs.

Apparently, someone on X/Twitter ruled that donning a headdress as a white person is inexcusable. Because that is not a consensus belief.

A Virginia Commonwealth University study explained in 2017 that while there is some dispute over the meaning of wearing a headdress, "most of the people wearing headdresses think of it as a homage to native peoples."

There is also the common sense element to the photo. No one in their right mind could seriously argue the kid's intent was malicious.

Anyone arguing otherwise is either pandering or probably has a headdress in their closet that they wore a few Halloweens ago.

The little Chiefs fan is not a racist. Nor are his parents. He is an innocent 5-year-old boy who was thrilled to attend an NFL game on Thanksgiving weekend.

Yet he is now a target of the culture war, his face is plastered across the internet and websites are calling for the NFL to condemn him.

Deadspin and Dan Le Batard used their reach, albeit limited, to smear a civilian, one who is under 10.

Not a single person was traumatized because a kid painted his face half-black and red and wore Indian headwear.

However, the kid in question might end up traumatized by public figures deceptively framing him as a two-time racist.