Deadspin Loses Bid to Dismiss Defamation Suit Over Accusing 9-Year-Old Chiefs Fan of Blackface

A Delaware judge rejected a motion by Deadspin to dismiss a defamation lawsuit for falsely accusing a 9-year-old NFL fan of wearing blackface in an article, according to the Associated Press.

Last November, then-Deadspin writer Carron J. Phillips published a photo of a kid named Holden Armenta from a Chiefs game wearing a Native American headdress and his face painted. Armenta painted his face half red and half black in support of his favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs. However, Phillips's article only showed one side of the child's face: the side painted black.

Here is the photo Deadspin showed its readers:

Here is how the fan actually looked at the game:

Quite the difference, no?

In the article – titled "The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress" – Phillips stated with certainty that the boy had "found a way to hate black people and Native Americans at the same time." 

In reality, Armenta is actually a Native American.

Deadspin posted the article on Nov. 27, 2023, but did not correct the piece until Dec. 7, when the family threatened legal action. Yet when the site finally added an editor's note to the article and retained the accusations of racism, the outlet tried to defend itself with two easily provable lies.

First, the note claimed the outlet was "unaware" of the full photo until it received a letter from the family's lawyer. That is not true. 

Photos of Armenta's full face were widely available at the time Deadspin posted the article and posted across the internet afterward. OutKick sent Deadspin the full photo of Armenta's face painted red and black on Nov. 29, asking why it had refused to correct the piece.

Further, Phillips admitted to knowing the fan was not wearing blackface on Nov. 28.

"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," Phillips wrote on X. "Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco."

So, for 11 days, Deadspin left published an article while knowing it contained a deceptively edited screenshot used to smear a 9-year-old child.

Secondly, the editor’s note stated that the "intended focus [of the article] was on the NFL" and not the fan. That is not true, either. The first paragraph of the article claimed the fan – not the NFL -- "hated both black people and Native Americans."

The Armenta family officially filed a defamation lawsuit against Deadspin in February, alleging that author Carron Phillips "maliciously and wantonly" attacked their son as part of a "race-drenched political agenda" to "generate clicks."

According to the lawsuit, the Armentas started receiving hateful messages and death threats after Deadspin published the piece. Specifically, the suit alleges that one person threatened to kill Holden "with a wood chipper."

The Armentas say they made repeated requests for Deadspin to retract the article, which it would not.

The family's legal case is strong. 

Lexie Rigden, an attorney and frequent legal analyst for Fox News, provided the following explanation to OutKick last November about the lawsuit and the family's chances of succeeding:

"Although defamation laws vary state by state, in general, to prove defamation, a plaintiff would have to show that a false statement was made (i.e. that this child is wearing blackface); that the statement was published to third parties (easy--it's all over the internet, with even Elon Musk commenting); that the defendant knew it was false or was at least was negligent in publishing it (Phillips and Deadspin saw the full photo and knew the context in which it was taken); and damages, that some harm was caused to the plaintiff's reputation (the death threats cited in the lawsuit)."

Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg agrees with Rigden's analysis.

On Monday, he rejected Deadspin's argument that the article was an "opinion" and thus protected from liability for defamation.

"Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diversity efforts and, in its description of the child, crossed the fine line protecting its speech from defamation claims," the judge wrote.

"Having reviewed the complaint, the court concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing H.A. of wearing black face and Native headdress ‘to hate black people and the Native American at the same time,’ and that he was taught this hatred by his parents, are provable false assertions of fact and are therefore actionable," Lugg added.

In March, a month after the Armentas filed the lawsuit against Deadspin, parent company G/O Media sold the site to an obscure European firm called Lineup Publishing. New ownership subsequently fired the entire Deadspin staff.

Phillips, accurately described in the Armentas’ lawsuit as "someone who makes his livelihood through vicious race-baiting," remains unemployed.

He deserves to be. So does every editor and executive who allowed this story to remain on the site, They falsely and willfully framed a 9-year-old as a racist for cheap clicks and profit. That is indefensible.