Deadspin Loses Attempt To Toss Defamation Suit After Falsely Accusing Young Chiefs Fan Of Blackface

A judge in Delaware denied Deadspin’s attempt to get a defamation suit against it tossed out after the sports blog published an article that falsely accused a 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan of wearing blackface at a game last year.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg shot down Deadspin’s motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by Raul Armenta Jr. and his wife Shannon on behalf of their son, Holden, the Associated Press reported. The young Chiefs fan attended a game in Las Vegas last November, wearing an American Indian headdress and painting his face half red and half black for his favorite team’s colors.

In an article written by Carron Phillips and published by Deadspin, Holden is accused of wearing blackface and finding “a way to hate black people and the Native American at the same time.” The main photo for the article only showed the side of Holden’s face that was painted black, and Phillips claimed that Holden was taught “hatred” by his parents.

“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,” Judge Lugg 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.”

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

According to the Armentas lawsuit, Holden is proud of his family’s Chumash-Indian heritage and wore the headdress along with the face paint to support the Chiefs. Phillips was blasted in the lawsuit as “someone who makes his livelihood through vicious race-baiting.”

After backlash to Phillips falsely writing that Holden was wearing blackface and calling him and his parents “racist,” the writer doubled down, writing on X, “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.”

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The lawsuit also points out other articles and public statements from Phillips that focus on race and criticize the U.S. as racist.

“Accusing people of engaging in racist acts has long been Phillips’ modus operandi; his career is based on it,” the lawsuit states. “His recent articles include: ‘Ryan Tannehill’s ‘support’ for young Titans quarterbacks depends on if they’re white’; ‘We know why Simone Biles doesn’t get the same attention as Taylor Swift at NFL games’ (because she is Black), and ‘The Chicago Bears haven’t won a playoff game since Lovie Smith. Their next head coach should be Black.'”

One month after the defamation suit was filed against Deadspin, the company was sold and its entire staff was laid off.