Young Chiefs fan's defamation lawsuit against Deadspin to move forward: 'Crossed the fine line'

A Delaware justice ruled Monday that the Armenta family’s suit against Deadspin for accusing their lad of wearing "blackface" astatine a Chiefs crippled past twelvemonth tin proceed.

In 2023, Deadspin writer Carron Phillips wrote an article utilizing an representation of nine-year-old Holden Armenta sporting achromatic and reddish Kansas City Chiefs look overgarment astatine a game, showing lone the achromatic fractional of his face. Phillips accused Holden of uncovering a mode to "hate Black radical and the Native Americans astatine the aforesaid time" and accused his parents of teaching him "hatred."

Holden’s parents Raul Jr. and Shannon aboriginal filed a suit successful February accusing the sports blog of maliciously attacking Holden by selectively posting lone 1 fractional of his look and accusing them of racism. 

Holden Armenta, 9, attends the Chiefs-Raiders crippled connected Nov. 26 successful Las Vegas.  ((Screenshot/Jesse Watters Primetime))

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Sean Lugg denied Deadspin’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, agreeing that the blog posted "provable mendacious assertions" arsenic facts alternatively than opinion.

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"Deadspin published an representation of a kid displaying his passionate fandom arsenic a backdrop for its critique of the NFL’s diverseness efforts and, successful its statement of the child, crossed the good enactment protecting its code from defamation claims," the justice wrote.

"Having reviewed the complaint, the tribunal concludes that Deadspin’s statements accusing [Holden] of wearing achromatic look and Native headdress ‘to hatred achromatic radical and the Native American astatine the aforesaid time,’ and that helium was taught this hatred by his parents, are provable mendacious assertions of information and are truthful actionable," Lugg added.

Deadspin posted an representation showing lone 1 fractional of Holden's look astatine a Chiefs game. ((Screenshot/Jesse Watters Primetime))

Lugg besides refused to disregard the lawsuit based connected the assertion that the lawsuit should person been filed successful the Armenta family’s location authorities of California alternatively than Delaware, wherever Deadspin’s genitor institution G/O Media resides. G/O Media aboriginal sold Deadspin to Lineup Publishing 1 period aft the suit was filed.

A typical from G/O Media declined to remark to Fox News Digital.

Deadspin did not retract the archetypal article. However, an editor’s enactment was added to code the controversy.

"We regret immoderate proposition that we were attacking the instrumentality oregon his family. To that end, our communicative was updated connected Dec. 7 to region immoderate photos, tweets, links, oregon different identifying accusation astir the fan. We person besides revised the header to amended bespeak the substance of the story," the enactment read.

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The header was besides changed from "The NFL needs to talk retired against the Kansas City Chiefs instrumentality successful Black face, Native headdress" to "The NFL Must Ban Native Headdress And Culturally Insensitive Face Paint successful the Stands."

Judge Lugg agreed the archetypal nonfiction asserted its accusations of racism arsenic "provable mendacious assertions of fact." (Screenshots/Deadspin, Jesse Watters Primetime)

Phillips initially doubled down connected his accusations successful a since-deleted X post.

"For the idiots successful my mentions who are treating this arsenic immoderate harmless enactment due to the fact that the different broadside of his look was painted red, I could marque the statement that it makes it adjacent worse. Y'all are the ones who hatred [M]exican but deterioration sombreros connected cinco [de Mayo]," Phillips said.

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