A 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan who was vilified as a “racist” by sports website Deadspin will spend time in court, a Delaware judge says. The verdict was handed down on Monday.
The controversial blog, once part of the now-defunct Gawker empire, has filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against it. The judge quickly denied this, noting that there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed.
“A person who makes a living off of vicious racism.”
As Blaze News reported in November 2023, Deadspin attempted to stir up outrage over an image of Holden Armenta wearing Chiefs face paint while watching a game against the Las Vegas Raiders last November.
Half of Armenta's face was painted black and half red. He also wore a Native American headdress.
lace feeding
Deadspin writer Caron Phillips used a photo of Armenta in which only a headdress and black face paint were visible to accuse the boy of racism.
“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. .
He went on to accuse the NFL of being “complicit in bigotry.”
It is not the league's responsibility to ensure that racism and hatred are not taught in the home, but they are a league that has been relentlessly complicit in bigotry. If the NFL had banned the chop at Chiefs games and been more proactive about changing the team's name, we wouldn't be here.
In a since-deleted post about X, Phillips defended the somewhat dubious accusations. “To the idiots who treat this as a harmless act just because the other side of his face was painted red in my mention, I would argue that it makes things even worse. You all hate Mexicans, but you wear sombreros in Cinco.”
Family faces 'barrage of hatred'
Armenta's parents, Raul Armenta Jr. and Shannon Armenta, filed a defamation lawsuit against the website in February 2024. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware, home of Deadspin's parent company, G/O Media.
A month after the lawsuit was filed, Deadspin's entire staff was abruptly fired after G/O Media sold the website to Lineup Publishing.
The complaint described Phillips as “a person who makes a living off of vicious racism.”
The Armentas said they have received a “barrage of hate, including death threats” as a result of the article's defamation of their son. One person also threatened to kill Holden “with a wood chipper,” according to the complaint.
“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.
last resort
Armentas claims he repeatedly asked Deadspin to retract the article and apologize. Instead, Deadspin revised it to take its focus away from Armenta, while maintaining its claim that the boy was a racist.
Headlines range from “NFL needs to speak out against Kansas City Chiefs fans wearing blackface and Native headdresses” to “NFL needs to speak out against Kansas City Chiefs fans wearing Native headdresses and culturally insensitive face paint in the stands.” “must be prohibited” was changed.
The family noted that Holden's grandfather was an officer with the Chumash Tribe of Santa Ynez, California.
Deadspin's lawyers, seeking to have the case dismissed, argued that the claims against Armenta amounted to opinions and constituted constitutionally protected speech.
crossed the line
But Superior Court Judge Sean Rugg vehemently disagreed.
“Deadspin publishes an image of a child who appears to be a die-hard fan in the context of criticizing the NFL's diversity efforts, and the depiction of the child protects the speech from defamation claims.” It was a fine line,” Judge Rugg said. I wrote.
“After reviewing the complaint, the court concluded that Deadspin's statements accuse: [Holden] That he wore blackface and a Native American headdress “to simultaneously hate Black people and Native Americans,” and that he was instilled with that hatred by his parents, is a provable factual error and therefore a liability for litigation. Yes,” Mr. Rugg said.
This was revealed by a G/O Media spokesperson. Associated Press The company said it had no comment regarding the lawsuit.
Watch Sara Gonzalez — Host.Sara Gonzalez Unfilter“–attacking a 9-year-old Chiefs fan and skewering the woke media.
– YouTubewww.youtube.com
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