Deadspin finally updated a news report that went viral, accusing a young Kansas City Chiefs fan of wearing “blackface” after the child’s parents threatened to sue the reporter and the sports publication. I hope they get a lot of money because leftist media outlets still haven’t learned that they can’t bring minor children into their messed-up ideological world. Minors have a right to privacy.
Carron J. Phillips‘ November 27 criticism of native headdresses and insensitive face paint at NFL games was quietly altered on Thursday, with an editor’s note claiming the publisher “regret[s] any suggestion that we were attacking” 9-year-old Holden Armenta. Yet that’s exactly what they did. For goodness’ sake, they used a photo of him as the featured image for the story.
The original header photo, which showed Holden in profile wearing a traditional Native American headdress and his face painted in black and red, two of the Chiefs’ four team colors, at the November 26 game, was also removed, and the headline was revised so that it no longer specifically mentioned the fan.
The article now includes a photo of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“Three years ago, the Chiefs banned fans from wearing headdresses in Arrowhead Stadium, as well as face painting that ‘appropriates American Indian cultures and traditions.’ The story’s intended focus was the NFL and its failure to extend those rules to the entire league,” the editor’s note bemoaned.
Phillips wrote, “The NFL needs to speak out against the Kansas City Chiefs fan in Black face, Native headdress.” How is that not attacking the child? This sparked outrage when he accused the young fan of finding “a way to hate Black people and Native Americans at the same time.” I only wish I could be on the jury.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELShannon Armenta, the young man’s mother, responded to Phillips’ garbage story with a Facebook post that captured the youngster’s enthusiastic greeting at the stadium and revealed that he is of Native American descent. DOH!
According to the Post Millennial, his grandfather, Raul Armenta, is a member of the Chumash Tribe in Santa Ynez, California.
Phillips, on the other hand, doubled down on stupid.
“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,” he wrote in a since-deleted X post, the Post Millennial reported.
Later, young Holden told Fox News that it was “a little scary” to have the media label him as racist.
If the story was not retracted, his family threatened to sue the publication and the reporter. I think they still should file a suit. They tried to do to Holden what they did to the Covington school student Nick Sandmann, who also did nothing wrong. The proceeds could go toward Holden’s college tuition. It would also buy a lot of KC Chiefs tickets.
