The online sports magazine faces a defamation lawsuit from the family of a nine-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan it accused of being racist.
A Delaware judge has refused to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against online sports magazine Deadspin over an article accusing a 9-year-old boy of wearing “blackface” to a football game.
In an Oct. 7 ruling, Judge Sean Lugg of the Superior Court of Delaware rejected Deadspin’s argument that the article in question was opinion and thus protected from defamation liability.
“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,” Lugg wrote.
The lawsuit was filed by Raul Armenta Jr. and his wife, Shannon, on behalf of themselves and their son, Holden, who is of Chumash Indian descent.
According to the complaint, Holden painted his face black and red—two of the colors used in the Kansas City Chiefs logo—and wore a Native American headdress during a Nov. 26, 2023, game between the Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders. He was shown briefly during the television broadcast of the game, with his red-and-black face paint visible.
The next day, Deadspin writer Carron Phillips published an article calling out the boy’s attire, with a featured image of the child that showed only the side of his face covered in black paint.
“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once,” he wrote in the column. “But on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, a Kansas City Chiefs fan found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time.”
The author then questioned the NFL’s commitment to its “social justice initiatives,” saying that the organization has not been doing enough to foster a more “sensitive” culture among fans.
Specifically, Phillips argued that the NFL should have been more “aggressive” in pressing the Kansas City football team to drop its “Chiefs” name, which he deemed as culturally insensitive as “Redskins,” a name bore by Washington Commanders for decades until its rebranding in 2020 amid nationwide unrest and debate over racism.
By Bill Pan
