In November, Deadspin, a sports news outlet, published an article falsely accusing a nine-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan of wearing blackface at an NFL game.
The piece, authored by Carron J. Phillips, displayed an image showing only one side of the child’s face painted black, omitting the context that he was wearing black and red face paint in support of the Chiefs. Additionally, the article falsely claimed that the young fan harbored hatred toward Black people and Native Americans.
On Monday, the parents of the child, Raul and Shannon Armenta, initiated legal action against Deadspin and its parent company G/O Media, alleging malicious and wanton attacks on their son. The family confirmed their lawsuit to OutKick, a sports news website.
The lawsuit asserts that Deadspin and Phillips intentionally manipulated the narrative by selectively presenting an image of the child with black paint on one side of his face while disregarding the red paint on the other side.
“H.A. did not wear a costume headdress because he was ‘taught hate at home’—he wore it because he loves the Kansas City Chiefs’ football team and because he loves his Native American heritage,” the complaint states.
The Armenta family contends that the false accusations inflicted significant harm, including death threats, insults, and negative impacts on the child’s academic performance and emotional well-being.
