A Delaware judge has ruled that a defamation lawsuit against the sports website Deadspin can move forward. The case involves a 9-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan, Holden Armenta.
The controversy began when Deadspin published an article criticizing the NFL, featuring an image of Armenta. The article claimed the league needed to speak out “against the fan in black face” and “Native headdress” during a Raiders-Chiefs game last November. However, while the child’s face was painted half-black and half-red, the article only showed the black-painted side.
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Holden’s parents filed the defamation lawsuit in February, asserting that their son is a dedicated Chiefs fan who takes pride in his Indian heritage. They claim the article, written by Carron Phillips, smeared their son as a racist.
Phillips stated in the article that the child had “found a way to hate black people and the Native American at the same time,” and suggested that his parents had instilled “hatred” in him.
Both Deadspin and the Armenta family faced backlash after the article went viral. In response, Deadspin changed the headline to “The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint in the Stands,” adding, “We regret any suggestion that we were attacking the fan or his family.”
Dissatisfied with this response, the Armenta family proceeded with their defamation lawsuit.
This week, Judge Sean Lugg denied Deadspin’s motion to dismiss the case, stating, “Deadspin published an image of a child displaying his passionate fandom as a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diversity efforts… 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.”
A spokesperson for G/O Media, which owns Deadspin, has not commented on the case. The Armenta family’s attorney said they are “eager to present their case to a jury.”
