The family of the young Kansas City Chiefs fan who was smeared as racist after he donned a tribal headdress and face paint at a recent game is threatening to sue the outlet that sparked the controversy for publishing what they saw are defamatory claims.
Holden Armenta’s parents, Shannon and Raul, hired law firm Clare Locke LLP to compel Deadspin, the outlet which published the hit piece condemning his getup, to retract the story. Authored by senior writer Carron Phillips, the story was headlined, “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.”
The parents also warned that they may launch legal action against Phillips, the publication, publisher G/O Media, and Great Hill Partners in a letter obtained by NewsNation.
“These articles, posts on X and photos about Holden and his parents must be retracted immediately,” the letter said. “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.”
While the Deadspin article used an image which only showed the half of Armenta’s face that was painted black to substantiate the claim that he was wearing “blackface,” other images show that the other side of his face was painted red for the Chiefs. Holden Armenta is nine years old and is of Native American ancestry.
“It takes a lot to disrespect two groups of people at once,” Phillips wrote in the piece. “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 child’s father is the son of a senior Armenta, also named Raul, and a business committee member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, according to local news story from 2014. The family lives in Santa Ynez, California, according to Facebook.
Shannon Holden, the boy’s mother, wrote on Facebook after the drama: “This has nothing to do with the NFL. Also, CBS showed him multiple times and this is the photo people chose to blast to create division. He is Native American – just stop already.”
Her Facebook feed showed footage and photos from the game night, such as a close-up video of her son doing the tomahawk chop, with the players repeating the movement back to him. “The players even loved it!,” she wrote.
Despite the public backlash, Phillips defended his attempt to shame the child in a social-media post.
“For the idiots in my mentions who are treating this as some harmless act because the other side of his face was painted red, I could make the argument that it makes it even worse,” writer Carron J. Phillips wrote on X. “Y’all are the ones who hate Mexicans but wear sombreros on Cinco.”
Holden’s father told Fox News’ Jesse Watters recently that his son was shaken by the negative attention and mischaracterization of his costume, after he had an otherwise great time supporting his favorite team.
“It’s been a lot,” the father said. It’s been a pretty crazy couple of days. I was mad, upset for him. I’m mad that he’s upset. He’s pretty devastated. I mean, he’s seen the videos and everything posted.”
“It was his dream to get on the Jumbotron,” he added. “And I’ve had family and friends call and [say], ‘Oh, we saw you on Sunday night football.’ So, he’s excited. But then everything else came up.”