The family of a 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan who was vilified as a racist has filed a complaint. defamation lawsuit We protest against Deadspin’s dishonest reporting.
Holden Armenta was slammed by Sports News writer Caron Phillips for wearing a Native American headdress at a Chiefs-Las Vegas Raiders game in November.
“It’s hard to despise two groups of people at once, but on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, Kansas City Chiefs fans found a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time,” Phillips wrote at the time. .
Shortly after the paper published the article, critics said it had used a misleading photo that showed only half of the child’s face to make it appear as if she was wearing blackface.
“Yes, you just ruined this young fan’s life with a false headline and a misleading photo. This is not about blackface, this is not about race. This is about support for the team,” one said. I wrote the article. critical tweets.
Armenta’s parents, Shannon and Raul, said the Deadspin report “subjected the family to a barrage of hate, including death threats.”
The lawsuit alleges that the article, which did not include a full-body photo of the boy with half of his face painted red, misled readers and thereby “maligned the 9-year-old boy and his parents with Phillips’ own racism.” He claimed that he attacked her in an unreasonable manner. political agenda. ”
The Armentas pointed out that their son’s grandfather was an officer with the Chumash Tribe of Santa Ynez, California, but Deadspin refused to retract the story or apologize.
“The Armentas were intentionally portrayed as anti-Black, anti-Indigenous bigots who proudly committed the worst acts of racism, motivated by their family’s hatred of Black and Indigenous people,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
In 2020, the Chiefs decided to ban the wearing of headdresses in the stadium, but Armenta was wearing the headdress while attending an away game in Las Vegas. The Chiefs defeated the Raiders to earn a spot in the Super Bowl, which will be played in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Here is Holden Armenta’s interview:
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