The family of a nine-year-old Kansas City Chiefs fan slammed by a Deadspin reporter for wearing a Native American headdress to a game is threatening to sue the publication’s publisher for defamation.
The legal threat was aired in a scathing letter to publisher G/O Media and Great Hill Partners, sent by the boy’s parent less than a week after the blog published an article that accused their son of racial insensitivity.
The article, penned by Carron J. Phillips, insisted that Holden Armenta exhibited racist behavior by donning the attire during an away game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Sunday, November 26.
Phillips claims – which also included the child ‘found a way to hate black people’ by painting half of his face jet black in support of his team – quickly went viral, with his piece shared across the internet for the world to see.
Armenta’s parents, Shannon and Raul, are now demanding the sports site and its senior writer immediately issue a retraction – or face the wrath of the same law firm that helped Dominion Voting secure a $787million settlement against Fox News.
Holden Armenta, 9, was filmed donning the attire for football game against the Las Vegas Raiders two Sundays ago in Las Vegas
Former Daily News reporter Carron J. Phillips could be sued, after he insisted the boy exhibited racist behavior by wearing the headdress, and ‘found a way to hate black people’ by painting half of his face jet black in support of his team
A portion of the letter from lawyers from Clare Locke LLP, which specializing in defamation cases, cites the confluence of media shared by the famously progressive news site promoting the contentious piece.
Viewed by NewsNation, it reportedly reads: ‘These articles, posts on X and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately.’
Pointing to a since-deleted X post defending Phillips’ piece, the correspondence continued: ‘It is not enough to quietly remove a tweet from X or disable the article from Deadspin’s website.
‘You must publish your retractions and issue an apology to my clients with the same prominence and fanfare with which you defamed them,’ it concluded.
A timeline regarding the ultimatum was not provided – though it comes as the Phillips’ piece, titled ‘The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas city chief fans in Black face, Native headdress’, continues to command attention.
As of Monday, the story remains up much the way it was posted – sans an update offered on Thursday that revealed a Native American tribe had distanced itself from the nine-year-old.
Less than 48 hours prior, Shannon Argenta took to her personal Facebook to speak out against the scrutiny her son was facing – revealing he was part Native American and a member of the federally recognized Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
On Thursday, Phillips – a Michigan native who once worked for the Daily News – offered the tribe’s statement on the matter, which stated that it ‘does not endorse wearing regalia as part of a costume or participating in any other type of cultural appropriation.’